Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Boosts Stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 244,945 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,474 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned 0.05% of NiSource worth $9,004,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NI. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 5.8% during 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 during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 88.4% during 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 during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,396,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $394,888,000 after purchasing an additional 99,882 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 10,823,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $375,020,000 after purchasing an additional 316,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,747,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $371,139,000 after purchasing an additional 178,365 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NI opened at $39.74 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $37.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.09, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. NiSource Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.45 and a 1-year high of $39.99.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its 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 net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 8.27%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. 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 yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.13.

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.