Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Makes New $286,000 Investment in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 9,932 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $286,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in NiSource by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,946,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,519,823,000 after buying an additional 991,336 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 146.2% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $246,388,000 after acquiring an additional 5,290,322 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its position in shares of NiSource by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 7,272,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $193,083,000 after purchasing an additional 450,818 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in NiSource by 123.6% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,593,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $148,517,000 after purchasing an additional 3,092,138 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Brown Abbott Ltd lifted its holdings in NiSource by 23.5% in the 1st quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd now owns 3,442,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $95,220,000 after purchasing an additional 656,060 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on NI shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of NiSource in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. Barclays lifted their target price on NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on NiSource in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.43.

NiSource Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $34.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. NiSource Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.86 and a 12-month high of $34.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $32.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 14.76%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.265 per share. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.28%.

NiSource Company Profile

NiSource Inc, an energy holding company, operates as a regulated natural gas and electric utility company in the United States. It operates in two segments, Gas Distribution Operations and Electric Operations. The company distributes natural gas to approximately 3.3 million customers through approximately 55,000 miles of distribution main pipeline and the associated individual customer service lines; and 1,000 miles of transmission main pipeline in northern Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and Maryland.