Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Sells 1,081 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 1.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 85,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,081 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $2,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of NiSource by 123.6% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,593,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $148,517,000 after buying an additional 3,092,138 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in NiSource by 330.9% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,463,203 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $95,792,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,551 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in NiSource during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $70,090,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in NiSource by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,955,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,432,512,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in NiSource by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,525,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $226,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,826,202 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $30.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $13.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $28.66 and its 200-day moving average is $27.36. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $22.86 and a one year high of $30.24.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. Equities analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Mizuho initiated coverage on NiSource in a research note on Thursday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI raised their price target on NiSource from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price objective on shares of NiSource in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 3,742 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total transaction of $104,626.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,978 shares in the company, valued at approximately $558,584.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.