Proficio Capital Partners LLC Acquires New Shares in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 171,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,316,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NI. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in shares of NiSource by 153.2% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter valued at $78,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $38.13.

Insider Activity at NiSource

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NiSource Price Performance

NI opened at $39.48 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $38.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.45. NiSource Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.25 and a 12-month high of $41.44. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $18.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.37, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.14%.

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.