US Bancorp DE Raises Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

US Bancorp DE grew its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 35,907 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,926 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in NiSource were worth $1,244,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. MCF Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource during the 2nd quarter worth $43,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NiSource Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:NI opened at $35.00 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $34.32 and its 200 day moving average is $31.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.51. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.58 and a 1 year high of $35.49.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $986.00 million. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 14.63%. The company’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on NI shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays upped their price objective on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.50.

NiSource 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.