Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Raises Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 11.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 929,292 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 95,735 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned approximately 0.21% of NiSource worth $26,773,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in NiSource by 1.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,946,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,519,823,000 after buying an additional 991,336 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its position in NiSource by 146.2% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $246,388,000 after buying an additional 5,290,322 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its position in NiSource by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 7,272,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $193,083,000 after buying an additional 450,818 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in NiSource by 123.6% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,593,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $148,517,000 after buying an additional 3,092,138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in NiSource by 1.4% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,908,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $141,415,000 after buying an additional 67,697 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NI stock opened at $34.08 on Monday. 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 22.27, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.51. NiSource Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.86 and a 1-year high of $34.49.

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

NiSource Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on NI. Barclays upped 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company 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 price target for the company. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on NiSource in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.43.

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.