Simplicity Solutions LLC Decreases Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Simplicity Solutions LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,737 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 673 shares during the period. Simplicity Solutions LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $497,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in NiSource by 256.7% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 7,704,805 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $211,266,000 after buying an additional 5,544,787 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in NiSource by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,613,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,673,113,000 after buying an additional 5,153,843 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in NiSource by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,192,844 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $769,332,000 after buying an additional 1,970,696 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in NiSource by 95.9% in the 2nd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,136,737 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $85,789,000 after buying an additional 1,535,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in NiSource by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,070,847 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $125,149,000 after buying an additional 865,245 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 11,141 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total transaction of $297,019.06. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,720 shares in the company, valued at $632,375.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $27.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $12.28 billion, a PE ratio of 18.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.14. 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 1 year low of $22.86 and a 1 year high of $28.95.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its 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). The company had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 10.10%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid 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 3.87%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.11%.

About NiSource

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.