62,903 Shares in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Purchased by Quadrature Capital Ltd

Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 62,903 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,670,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in NI. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 123.6% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,593,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $148,517,000 after acquiring an additional 3,092,138 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at about $70,090,000. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC lifted its position in NiSource by 110.9% during the fourth quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 3,915,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $103,948,000 after acquiring an additional 2,058,646 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,955,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,432,512,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850,842 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of NiSource by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,525,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $226,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,826,202 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NI opened at $28.07 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.58 billion, a PE ratio of 18.35, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $28.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.86 and a 12 month high of $29.44.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. NiSource had a net margin of 14.23% and a return on equity of 9.56%. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.77 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.265 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.78%. NiSource’s payout ratio is currently 69.28%.

Insider Activity at NiSource

In other news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 3,742 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total transaction of $104,626.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 19,978 shares in the company, valued at approximately $558,584.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on NI. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. StockNews.com raised NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of NiSource in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on NiSource from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.50.

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.