5,533 Shares in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Acquired by Cooper Financial Group

Cooper Financial Group bought a new stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 5,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Thomasville National Bank grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 16,364 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its stake in NiSource by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 101,207 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,720,000 after acquiring an additional 9,841 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its holdings in NiSource by 15.3% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 5,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after acquiring an additional 760 shares during the last quarter. Park National Corp OH purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 4th quarter worth $202,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 25.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 18,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $671,000 after purchasing an additional 3,689 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Price Performance

NiSource stock opened at $36.75 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.27, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.54. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $36.65 and a 200-day moving average of $34.03. NiSource Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.80 and a 52-week high of $38.56.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on NiSource in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 target price for the company. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.50.

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.