NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Position Trimmed by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 45.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 199,809 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 166,238 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $5,756,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in NiSource by 1.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,946,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,519,823,000 after purchasing an additional 991,336 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 146.2% during the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $246,388,000 after acquiring an additional 5,290,322 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 7,272,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $193,083,000 after acquiring an additional 450,818 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 123.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,092,138 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Brown Abbott Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 23.5% during the first quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd now owns 3,442,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $95,220,000 after acquiring an additional 656,060 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Performance

NI stock opened at $34.25 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.39, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.61. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.86 and a fifty-two week high of $34.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.265 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.