Venturi Wealth Management LLC Increases Stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 655 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $680,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 3rd quarter worth $748,000. Thomasville National Bank increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 567,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,850,000 after acquiring an additional 16,364 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 88.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,373,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991,608 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of NiSource by 21.7% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,712,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $99,720,000 after purchasing an additional 483,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moran Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter worth about $3,068,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho raised their price objective on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on NiSource in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NiSource has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NI opened at $40.10 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.84 billion, a PE ratio of 24.75, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.54. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.45 and a 1 year high of $40.15.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.14%.

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.