NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Shares Bought by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 113,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 886 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in NiSource were worth $3,016,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mastrapasqua Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mastrapasqua Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,178 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $227,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 8,930 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. Brinker Capital Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Brinker Capital Investments LLC now owns 18,197 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $579,000 after buying an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,228 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 9,187 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $244,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $27.64 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $12.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.80, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.85. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $22.86 and a one year high of $28.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $26.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.06.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 12.98%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.265 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.84%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.11%.

Insider Transactions at NiSource

In other news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 11,141 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total transaction of $297,019.06. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $632,375.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NI. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th.

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.