Citigroup Inc. Has $14.59 Million Stock Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 17.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 421,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 63,563 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $14,589,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in NiSource by 2.1% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $531,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in NiSource by 12.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 0.7% in the second quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 53,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,548,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 3.2% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 13,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $483,000 after buying an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aurora Investment Counsel lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 0.7% in the second quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 62,589 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,803,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of NiSource in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of NiSource in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.50.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NI stock opened at $38.25 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.08. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.80 and a 1 year high of $38.56.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05. NiSource had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 8.27%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $986.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

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.