Moran Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Shares in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Moran Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 88,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,068,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in NiSource by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 10,823,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $375,020,000 after buying an additional 316,225 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 146.2% during the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $246,388,000 after purchasing an additional 5,290,322 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,374,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $183,636,000 after acquiring an additional 44,598 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in NiSource by 1.4% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,908,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $141,415,000 after purchasing an additional 67,697 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in NiSource by 68.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,342,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $96,407,000 after acquiring an additional 1,353,977 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NI stock opened at $37.82 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $34.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.84. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.80 and a fifty-two week high of $37.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market cap of $17.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.05. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 14.63%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $986.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on NI shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on NiSource in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price target for the company. Bank of America started coverage on shares of NiSource in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NiSource has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

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.