5,324,955 Shares in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Bought by Norges Bank

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 5,324,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $195,745,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 110.9% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195 shares in the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank raised its stake in NiSource by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 567,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,850,000 after buying an additional 16,364 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 21.7% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,712,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $99,720,000 after acquiring an additional 483,491 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 88.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $516,373,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter worth about $566,000. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total value of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $39.88 on Monday. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.26 and a twelve month high of $41.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company’s 50 day moving average is $38.93 and its 200 day moving average is $36.90. The company has a market cap of $18.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on NI shares. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.33.

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.