NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Shares Sold by Nisa Investment Advisors LLC

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 142,869 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,848 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $3,793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in NI. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in NiSource by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $593,000 after purchasing an additional 2,614 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in NiSource by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 106,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,397,000 after purchasing an additional 20,064 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its holdings in NiSource by 66.2% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 146,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,660,000 after purchasing an additional 58,398 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in NiSource by 29.7% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,952,676 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,093,000 after purchasing an additional 447,102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new stake in NiSource during the 1st quarter valued at $472,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of NiSource from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd.

NiSource Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE NI opened at $27.26 on Friday. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.86 and a 12 month high of $28.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $12.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $26.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.08.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). NiSource had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 12.98%. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.89%. NiSource’s payout ratio is currently 72.11%.

Insider Activity at NiSource

In related news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 11,141 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total value of $297,019.06. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $632,375.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.