Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL Buys New Stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 1,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $47,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Zimmer Partners LP lifted its position in NiSource by 146.2% in the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $246,388,000 after buying an additional 5,290,322 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 123.6% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,593,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $148,517,000 after buying an additional 3,092,138 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,850,842 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in NiSource by 3,195.5% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,811,447 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,094,000 after buying an additional 1,756,480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 68.1% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,342,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $96,407,000 after buying an additional 1,353,977 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NiSource Trading Down 0.4 %

NI stock opened at $34.68 on Thursday. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $22.86 and a one year high of $35.10. The stock has a market cap of $15.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $32.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

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

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. NiSource’s payout ratio is presently 69.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NI. Bank of America assumed coverage on NiSource in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. Mizuho started coverage on shares of NiSource in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays increased their price target on NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NiSource presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.43.

NiSource Company 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.