Private Advisor Group LLC Sells 438 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Private Advisor Group LLC cut its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,661 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 438 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $624,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 146.2% in the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $246,388,000 after purchasing an additional 5,290,322 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 123.6% in 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 purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 4th quarter worth about $70,090,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in NiSource by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,955,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,432,512,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in NiSource by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,525,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $226,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,826,202 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho began coverage on NiSource in a report on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of NiSource in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. 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 research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. One 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.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.43.

NiSource Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $34.18 on Wednesday. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.86 and a 1 year high of $34.49. 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 stock has a market cap of $15.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.34, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $31.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.30.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 14.76%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, research 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. Shareholders 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 3.10%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.28%.

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.