Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $664,000 Investment in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 25,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $664,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,049,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of NiSource by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 803,652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,337,000 after purchasing an additional 128,497 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in shares of NiSource by 54.0% during the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 201,128 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,964,000 after purchasing an additional 70,487 shares in the last quarter. Westover Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,053,000. Finally, Strs Ohio boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 1,478,169 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,481,000 after acquiring an additional 303,061 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on NI shares. Barclays increased their price target 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.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 11,141 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $27.94 on Monday. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.86 and a fifty-two week 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 has a market capitalization of $12.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $26.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.30.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.79%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.11%.

NiSource 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.