Bank of Montreal Can Trims Position in NiSource, Inc $NI

Bank of Montreal Can lessened its holdings in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 50.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,654,615 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,700,576 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned approximately 0.56% of NiSource worth $114,945,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Country Trust Bank purchased a new stake in NiSource in the second quarter worth about $28,000. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho upped their price target on NiSource from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Barclays set a $45.00 price objective on NiSource in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of NiSource from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. BMO Capital Markets set a $50.00 price target on shares of NiSource in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NiSource in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.20.

NiSource Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:NI opened at $46.24 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.14. NiSource, Inc has a 12-month low of $35.64 and a 12-month high of $47.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.71, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.64.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.02. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.07% and a net margin of 13.99%.The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.49 earnings per share. NiSource has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.020-2.070 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. This is an increase from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.54%.

NiSource Company Profile

NiSource, Inc (NYSE: NI) is a publicly traded energy holding company headquartered in Merrillville, Indiana, that primarily owns and operates regulated local gas and electric utilities in the United States. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company delivers natural gas and electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers and provides the associated distribution and transmission services that keep local energy systems functioning.

The company’s core activities include natural gas distribution, electric transmission and distribution, system operations, maintenance and emergency response.