Bleakley Financial Group LLC Reduces Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC trimmed its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 645 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $498,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 175,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,591,000 after buying an additional 3,815 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 470,082 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,481,000 after buying an additional 19,099 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 40.2% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,054 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 2,441.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 285,359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,576,000 after buying an additional 274,131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in shares of NiSource by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 113,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,016,000 after purchasing an additional 886 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on NI. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th. Barclays upped 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.

NiSource Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $27.07 on Friday. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $22.86 and a one year 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.41, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.49.

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

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.11%.

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.