PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Increases Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 121,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,163 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $4,200,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Zimmer Partners LP increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 146.2% during the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $246,388,000 after buying an additional 5,290,322 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in NiSource by 68.1% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,342,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $96,407,000 after acquiring an additional 1,353,977 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in NiSource by 118.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,616,189 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,449,000 after acquiring an additional 876,033 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 5,767.3% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 827,880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,851,000 after purchasing an additional 813,770 shares during the period. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the second quarter valued at approximately $22,056,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NI opened at $37.71 on Monday. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.80 and a 12 month high of $38.07. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.85, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.50.

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.