NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Shares Sold by Private Advisor Group LLC

Private Advisor Group LLC trimmed its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 45.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,127 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $397,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in NiSource by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $531,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in NiSource by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in NiSource by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,457 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in NiSource by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 13,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $483,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in NiSource by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 27,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $937,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NI stock opened at $39.75 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market cap of $18.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $26.04 and a one year high of $41.45.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released 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 return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. On average, analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is 69.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.