NiSource (NYSE:NI) Stock Price Expected to Rise, UBS Group Analyst Says

NiSource (NYSE:NI) had its price target increased by equities researchers at UBS Group from $40.00 to $45.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. UBS Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 14.84% from the company’s previous close.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $38.89.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NI opened at $39.18 on Friday. NiSource has a 12 month low of $26.26 and a 12 month high of $41.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.19, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

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 return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. Research analysts forecast that NiSource will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NiSource

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NI. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,793,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,124,492,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459,452 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 21,370,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $785,563,000 after purchasing an additional 1,965,334 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,448,075 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $419,765,000 after purchasing an additional 700,747 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.