Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Buys 8,752 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 86.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,752 shares during the quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $692,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in NiSource by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $531,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in NiSource by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $119,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in NiSource by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,457 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $363,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC increased its stake in NiSource by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 13,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its stake in NiSource by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 27,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $937,000 after buying an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on NI. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho upped 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $38.13.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $39.83 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $37.57 and a 200-day moving average of $35.79. NiSource Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.59 and a 1-year high of $40.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $18.72 billion, a PE ratio of 24.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.54.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This is an increase from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is 69.14%.

Insider Transactions at NiSource

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total value of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.