Profund Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Profund Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 60.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,324 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $713,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in NiSource during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MCF Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of NiSource during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. First Financial Corp IN bought a new position in NiSource in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in NiSource in the 2nd quarter worth $43,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on NI. Mizuho assumed coverage on NiSource in a report on Thursday, July 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective 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 began coverage on shares of NiSource in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NiSource currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.43.

NiSource Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE NI opened at $34.25 on Wednesday. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $22.86 and a one year high of $34.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $32.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.61. The company has a market capitalization of $15.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 9.15%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.28%.

About NiSource

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.