HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Acquires New Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 8,450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NI. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in NiSource by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of NiSource during the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, Tobam grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 3,994.6% during the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 2,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 2,237 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 3,742 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total transaction of $104,626.32. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,978 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $558,584.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of NiSource in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on NiSource from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.50.

NiSource Price Performance

NI stock opened at $28.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $12.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $28.31 and its 200 day moving average is $27.09. NiSource Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.86 and a 52 week high of $29.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.66.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.56% and a net margin of 14.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.77 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.265 per share. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 30th. NiSource’s payout ratio is 69.28%.

About NiSource

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.