V Square Quantitative Management LLC Has $439,000 Stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,683 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,005 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $439,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Zimmer Partners LP lifted its holdings in NiSource by 146.2% during the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $246,388,000 after purchasing an additional 5,290,322 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in NiSource by 68.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,342,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $96,407,000 after acquiring an additional 1,353,977 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL acquired a new position in NiSource in the 1st quarter valued at $34,419,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in NiSource by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,946,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,519,823,000 after acquiring an additional 991,336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in NiSource by 118.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,616,189 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,449,000 after acquiring an additional 876,033 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on NI shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their price target on NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Mizuho initiated coverage on NiSource in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.50.

NiSource Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NI stock opened at $35.14 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.51. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.58 and a twelve month high of $35.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.52.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 14.76%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.265 per share. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. NiSource’s payout ratio is presently 69.28%.

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.