Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Increases Stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 4,581.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,209 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $271,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in NiSource by 1.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,946,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,519,823,000 after acquiring an additional 991,336 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 146.2% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $246,388,000 after purchasing an additional 5,290,322 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in NiSource by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,525,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $226,353,000 after buying an additional 1,826,202 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its position in NiSource by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 7,272,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $193,083,000 after buying an additional 450,818 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in NiSource by 123.6% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,593,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $148,517,000 after buying an additional 3,092,138 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NiSource Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NI stock opened at $34.07 on Thursday. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.86 and a twelve month high of $34.49. The company has a market capitalization of $15.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.27, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $31.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.06. 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 the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America began coverage on NiSource in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of NiSource in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $32.43.

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.