Czech National Bank Has $3.17 Million Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Czech National Bank increased its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 7.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 91,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,938 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in NiSource were worth $3,166,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the second quarter worth $2,964,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the second quarter worth $47,000. Aurora Investment Counsel grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 0.7% in the second quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 62,589 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,803,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 1.0% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 69,397 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,999,000 after acquiring an additional 671 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the second quarter worth $226,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NI. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective 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. Evercore ISI raised 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. Mizuho started coverage on NiSource in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 target price for the company. Barclays raised their target price on NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on NiSource in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.00.

NiSource Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $33.93 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $15.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.18, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a fifty day moving average of $33.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.27. NiSource Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.58 and a 52-week high of $35.10. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 14.76%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.11 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid 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 dividend yield of 3.12%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.