First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Buys 3,065 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 21.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,065 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of NI. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,049,000. HF Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in NiSource during the fourth quarter worth about $1,559,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 128,497 shares during the period. Bfsg LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at $5,696,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in NiSource by 54.0% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 201,128 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,964,000 after buying an additional 70,487 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 11,141 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,720 shares in the company, valued at $632,375.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NI opened at $28.54 on Monday. 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 52 week low of $22.86 and a 52 week high of $28.95. The firm has a market cap of $12.79 billion, a PE ratio of 19.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $27.17 and its 200-day moving average is $26.38.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.53 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 company 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 company earned $0.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.265 per share. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. NiSource’s payout ratio is 72.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.