NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Shares Bought by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,075,372 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,608 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in NiSource were worth $76,291,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in NiSource by 88.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter worth $195,745,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in NiSource by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,793,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,124,492,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,452 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in NiSource by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $786,249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in NiSource by 793.3% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 883,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,609,000 after acquiring an additional 784,495 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

NiSource Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $40.11 on Tuesday. NiSource Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.26 and a 12-month high of $41.45. The company has a market cap of $18.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.94.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its 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 net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $988,339.36. This trade represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company 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.