Millennium Management LLC Buys 44,598 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 0.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,374,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,598 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $183,636,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NI. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in NiSource in the second quarter worth $25,000. MCF Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. First Financial Corp IN purchased a new position in NiSource during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in NiSource during the second quarter worth about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Trading Up 0.7 %

NiSource stock opened at $34.38 on Friday. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $22.86 and a one year high of $34.56. The business’s fifty day moving average is $32.56 and its 200 day moving average is $29.72. 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 capitalization of $15.41 billion, a PE ratio of 22.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51.

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

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.265 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. NiSource’s payout ratio is 69.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America started coverage on NiSource in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. 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. Evercore ISI raised 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.