Empirical Finance LLC Sells 793 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Empirical Finance LLC decreased its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 5.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,498 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 793 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $389,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,946,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,519,823,000 after buying an additional 991,336 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP raised its position in NiSource by 146.2% during the first 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 during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,525,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $226,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,826,202 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 7,272,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $193,083,000 after purchasing an additional 450,818 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of NiSource by 123.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,092,138 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NiSource Price Performance

NiSource stock opened at $33.06 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $14.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $30.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.67. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.86 and a 1 year high of $33.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.06. NiSource had a net margin of 14.23% and a return on equity of 9.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.265 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. NiSource’s payout ratio is 69.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on NI shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of NiSource in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price target for the company. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on NiSource from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.00.

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.