Acadian Asset Management LLC Takes $213,000 Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,417 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. TCW Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 792,187 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,033,000 after acquiring an additional 57,498 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its stake in NiSource by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 438,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,144,000 after purchasing an additional 29,055 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 12.6% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 515,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,265,000 after purchasing an additional 57,658 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 26.0% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 796,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $22,036,000 after purchasing an additional 164,532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the first quarter worth $9,686,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NI has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Mizuho assumed coverage on NiSource in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on NiSource in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.43.

NiSource Trading Up 0.7 %

NiSource stock opened at $34.08 on Friday. NiSource Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.86 and a 52 week high of $34.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.28 billion, a PE ratio of 22.27, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.42.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 9.15%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.11 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.265 per share. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. NiSource’s payout ratio is presently 69.28%.

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.