Versant Capital Management Inc Purchases 2,359 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 289.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,173 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,359 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in NiSource were worth $117,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in NiSource by 88.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,243,984 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $77,751,000 after buying an additional 255,348 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its position in NiSource by 793.3% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 883,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,609,000 after acquiring an additional 784,495 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp acquired a new position in NiSource during the third quarter worth about $280,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 271.7% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 35,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 25,987 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Up 0.1 %

NI opened at $36.39 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $36.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.64. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $24.80 and a one year high of $38.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.53.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 14.63%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $986.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NI. Mizuho boosted their price objective on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of NiSource in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NiSource currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

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.