Swiss National Bank Buys 47,300 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 3.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,339,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 47,300 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in NiSource were worth $37,053,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. First Financial Corp IN purchased a new position in shares of NiSource in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in NiSource during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in NiSource during the 1st quarter valued at $43,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NI. Mizuho began coverage on NiSource in a report on Thursday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of NiSource in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on NiSource from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on NiSource from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.33.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NI stock traded down $0.13 on Monday, hitting $29.94. The company had a trading volume of 780,288 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,276,890. The firm has a market cap of $13.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $28.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.86 and a twelve month high of $30.24.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.56% and a net margin of 14.23%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be issued a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.54%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 3,742 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total value of $104,626.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 19,978 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $558,584.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.