Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases Shares of 422,261 NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 422,261 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $15,522,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.09% of NiSource as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 110.9% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195 shares during the period. Thomasville National Bank boosted its stake 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 last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in NiSource by 21.7% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 valued at $516,373,000 after buying an additional 6,991,608 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moran Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in NiSource during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,068,000. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $988,339.36. This trade represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NI stock opened at $38.91 on Wednesday. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.26 and a 1 year high of $41.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.54. The company has a market cap of $18.28 billion, a PE ratio of 24.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. Research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.13.

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.