NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Shares Acquired by AE Wealth Management LLC

AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 608,567 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 32,609 shares during the quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC owned 0.14% of NiSource worth $17,533,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NI. TCW Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 792,187 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,033,000 after buying an additional 57,498 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its position in shares of NiSource by 7.1% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 438,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $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% during 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 during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 26.0% in the 1st 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 during the period. Finally, Brookstone Capital Management purchased a new position in NiSource in the 1st quarter worth about $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 a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective 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. Bank of America started coverage on shares of NiSource in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of NiSource in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus 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 12 month low of $22.86 and a 12 month high of $34.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market cap of $15.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.42.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.06. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 14.76%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.28%.

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.