Choreo LLC Has $245,000 Stock Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Choreo LLC reduced its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 16.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,327 shares during the period. Choreo LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. State Street Corp lifted its stake in NiSource by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $786,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,368 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 88.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $516,373,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991,608 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,396,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $394,888,000 after acquiring an additional 99,882 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in NiSource by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 10,823,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $375,020,000 after acquiring an additional 316,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in NiSource by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,747,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $371,139,000 after purchasing an additional 178,365 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on NI shares. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on NiSource in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price target on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.13.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NI opened at $39.74 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.30. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.45 and a 12 month high of $39.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.54.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 8.27%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. This is a positive change from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. NiSource’s payout ratio is currently 69.14%.

NiSource 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.