Skyline Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Skyline Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its stake in NiSource by 166.4% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 60,771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,613,000 after buying an additional 37,962 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,670,000. Personal CFO Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at about $204,000. Capital Fund Management S.A. boosted its stake in NiSource by 337.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 310,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,237,000 after buying an additional 239,392 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in NiSource by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 385,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,245,000 after buying an additional 70,188 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on NI shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Bank of America started coverage on NiSource in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Mizuho started coverage on NiSource in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price objective for the company. One 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.67.

NiSource Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NI stock opened at $34.02 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $15.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.24, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.78. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.57 and a fifty-two week high of $35.10.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.06. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 14.76%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.11 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.