Analysts Set NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) Target Price at $43.11

Shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $43.8750.

NI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of NiSource to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of NiSource from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $44.00 in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of NiSource in a research note on Monday, August 4th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 29.9% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 234,234 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,390,000 after buying an additional 53,972 shares during the period. Lincoln Capital Corp acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,556,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 14.0% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 358,469 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,371,000 after buying an additional 43,947 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 1.8% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 25,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,032,000 after buying an additional 448 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 69.6% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 94,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,785,000 after buying an additional 38,729 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Up 1.1%

NI stock opened at $41.18 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. NiSource has a 12 month low of $33.32 and a 12 month high of $43.51. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.04.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 8.25%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.21 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NiSource will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.57%.

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.