Bank of America Initiates Coverage on NiSource (NYSE:NI)

Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of NiSource (NYSE:NI) in a report issued on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $37.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock.

NI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on NiSource in a report on Thursday, July 11th. They set an outperform rating and a $33.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $32.43.

NiSource Stock Performance

NYSE NI opened at $34.06 on Thursday. NiSource has a fifty-two week low of $22.86 and a fifty-two week high of $34.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $31.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.78.

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

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.265 per share. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.28%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NiSource

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,964,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in NiSource in the second quarter valued at $47,000. Aurora Investment Counsel boosted its stake in NiSource by 0.7% in the second quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 62,589 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,803,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 1.0% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 69,397 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,999,000 after purchasing an additional 671 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource during the second quarter worth about $226,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.