NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $38.89.

NI has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday.

Insider Activity at NiSource

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the company’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 owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NiSource

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in NiSource by 110.9% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195 shares during the period. ING Groep NV bought a new stake in NiSource during the third quarter worth approximately $748,000. Thomasville National Bank boosted its position in NiSource by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 567,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,850,000 after purchasing an additional 16,364 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $99,720,000 after buying an additional 483,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 6,991,608 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Performance

NI stock opened at $39.18 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.19, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.65. NiSource has a fifty-two week low of $26.26 and a fifty-two week high of $41.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

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

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. NiSource’s payout ratio is 69.14%.

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.