MBB Public Markets I LLC Invests $821,000 in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

MBB Public Markets I LLC purchased a new stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 28,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $821,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Zimmer Partners LP increased its stake in NiSource by 146.2% during the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $246,388,000 after purchasing an additional 5,290,322 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of NiSource by 123.6% during the 4th 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. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in NiSource by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,955,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,432,512,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850,842 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in NiSource by 3,195.5% during the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,811,447 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,756,480 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in NiSource by 68.1% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,342,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $96,407,000 after acquiring an additional 1,353,977 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their price target on NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Mizuho assumed coverage on NiSource in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 target price on the stock. 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 report on Thursday, September 12th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of NiSource in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.43.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $34.83 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $15.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.88. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.86 and a fifty-two week high of $35.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released 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 company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 firm earned $0.11 EPS. Equities analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current 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 given a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.28%.

About NiSource

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.