Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Sells 4,898 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. trimmed its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 2.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 199,491 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,898 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $5,747,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MCF Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in NiSource during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in NiSource during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. First Financial Corp IN acquired a new stake in NiSource during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in NiSource during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in NiSource during the first quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NiSource Trading Up 1.3 %

NiSource stock opened at $34.06 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $31.69 and a 200-day moving average of $29.19. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $22.86 and a one year high of $34.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The company has a market cap of $15.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.51.

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

NiSource Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Mizuho assumed coverage on NiSource in a report on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays upped their price objective on NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on NiSource in a report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.43.

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.