Evercore ISI Issues Positive Forecast for NiSource (NYSE:NI) Stock Price

NiSource (NYSE:NI) had its price target raised by Evercore ISI from $45.00 to $46.00 in a research note released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an in-line rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

NI has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded NiSource from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $44.00 in a report on Friday, September 5th. Zacks Research upgraded NiSource to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on NiSource from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NiSource currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.56.

NiSource Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:NI opened at $43.89 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $42.13 and a 200-day moving average of $40.59. The company has a market capitalization of $20.67 billion, a PE ratio of 23.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.60. 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 has a 52-week low of $34.23 and a 52-week high of $44.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 8.25%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.21 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that NiSource will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.57%.

Institutional Trading of NiSource

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NI. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in NiSource by 55,625.2% during the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 16,866,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $680,411,000 after acquiring an additional 16,836,630 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in NiSource during the 2nd quarter worth about $296,543,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in NiSource by 5.3% during the 1st 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. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,650,827 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 88.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,535,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $221,935,000 after buying an additional 2,605,923 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.