SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 24,576 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

SG Americas Securities LLC reduced its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 60.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,029 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 24,576 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $589,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Creative Planning grew its position in NiSource by 1.4% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 105,119 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,028,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in NiSource by 1.0% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 69,397 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,999,000 after buying an additional 671 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in NiSource in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,964,000. Czech National Bank raised its stake in NiSource by 7.0% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 91,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,166,000 after buying an additional 5,938 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 25.1% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,560 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $505,000 after buying an additional 2,919 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on NiSource in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.50.

NiSource Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE NI opened at $37.33 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $36.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.42 billion, a PE ratio of 22.62, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.54. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.80 and a fifty-two week high of $38.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.05. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 14.63%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $986.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. NiSource’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.00%. This is a boost from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.24%.

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.