New York State Common Retirement Fund Lowers Stock Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 217,384 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,500 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in NiSource were worth $7,991,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NI. ING Groep NV bought a new position in shares of NiSource in the 3rd quarter valued at about $748,000. Thomasville National Bank increased its holdings in NiSource by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 567,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,850,000 after buying an additional 16,364 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 88.4% during the 3rd 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,712,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $99,720,000 after buying an additional 483,491 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moran Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in NiSource in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,068,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Down 0.3 %

NI stock opened at $39.83 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.41. NiSource Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.59 and a 1-year high of $40.29. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.79. The firm has a market cap of $18.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.58, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.54.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.28 dividend. This is a positive change from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.