NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Shares Sold by Cetera Investment Advisers

Cetera Investment Advisers lowered its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 21.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,684 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 15,370 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in NiSource were worth $2,047,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NI. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 25.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,352,182 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,852,000 after purchasing an additional 273,159 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 88.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 32,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource during the fourth quarter worth $230,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 153.2% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NiSource news, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 6,178 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total value of $233,590.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $701,035.21. This trade represents a 24.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NI opened at $39.88 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.07. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $27.60 and a one year high of $41.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.62, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.53.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, NiSource presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $41.50.

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.