Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Buys 32,042 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 148.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 53,680 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 32,042 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $1,860,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in NiSource in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. MCF Advisors LLC bought a new stake in NiSource in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in NiSource in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in NiSource in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in NiSource during the 2nd quarter worth about $43,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of NiSource in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NiSource presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.63.

NiSource Stock Up 0.8 %

NiSource stock opened at $35.16 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.77 billion, a PE ratio of 21.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s 50-day moving average is $34.10 and its 200-day moving average is $30.98. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.58 and a fifty-two week high of $35.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05. NiSource had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 9.15%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $986.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.19 EPS. NiSource’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.03%.

NiSource Company 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.