Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Invests $710,000 in NiSource, Inc $NI

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 17,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $710,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 48.8% in the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 266 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 3.9% in the first quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the period. Capital Analysts LLC boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 0.6% in the first quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 50,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,021,000 after buying an additional 283 shares during the period. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in NiSource by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,303 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in NiSource by 64.2% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $44.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of NiSource in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen cut NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Zacks Research raised NiSource to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut NiSource from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.88.

NiSource Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NI opened at $41.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. NiSource, Inc has a 12-month low of $33.32 and a 12-month high of $43.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $41.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.05.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.25% and a net margin of 14.46%.During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.21 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. NiSource’s 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.