International Assets Investment Management LLC Acquires 274,131 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 2,441.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 285,359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 274,131 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $7,576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NI. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 16.3% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $593,000 after acquiring an additional 2,614 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 23.1% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 106,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,397,000 after acquiring an additional 20,064 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 66.2% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 146,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,660,000 after acquiring an additional 58,398 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 29.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,952,676 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,093,000 after acquiring an additional 447,102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new position in shares of NiSource during the first quarter valued at about $472,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays upped 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NI opened at $27.07 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.76. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $22.86 and a one year high of $28.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.13 billion, a PE ratio of 18.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.49.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.265 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.92%. NiSource’s payout ratio is 72.11%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 11,141 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,720 shares in the company, valued at $632,375.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.