Fifth Third Bancorp Cuts Stock Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Fifth Third Bancorp cut its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,372 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 756 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in NiSource were worth $381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in NiSource by 88.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,373,000 after buying an additional 6,991,608 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 53.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,124,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $176,194,000 after purchasing an additional 1,782,078 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $786,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,368 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. purchased a new position in NiSource in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,162,000. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in NiSource by 793.3% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 883,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,609,000 after purchasing an additional 784,495 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NiSource Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NYSE:NI opened at $37.73 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $36.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.72. The company has a market cap of $17.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.86, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $24.80 and a one year high of $38.83.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a positive change from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.97%. NiSource’s payout ratio is presently 64.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NI has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of NiSource in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.