Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 2,553 Shares of NiSource, Inc $NI

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio decreased its holdings in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 164,541 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,553 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in NiSource were worth $6,638,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 5.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,844,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,439,236,000 after acquiring an additional 3,050,420 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,020,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $962,997,000 after acquiring an additional 2,650,827 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 88.9% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,535,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $221,935,000 after purchasing an additional 2,605,923 shares during the last quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the first quarter valued at approximately $98,682,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of NiSource in the first quarter worth $71,839,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NI opened at $42.56 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.59. NiSource, Inc has a 52 week low of $33.65 and a 52 week high of $43.51. The firm has a market cap of $20.04 billion, a PE ratio of 22.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $41.77 and its 200-day moving average is $40.16.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the business posted $0.21 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $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 2.6%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $44.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of NiSource from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $48.00 to $44.00 in a report on Friday, September 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of NiSource to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NiSource currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.88.

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.