Holistic Financial Partners Cuts Stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Holistic Financial Partners cut its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,830 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 510 shares during the quarter. Holistic Financial Partners’ holdings in NiSource were worth $545,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ING Groep NV purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource during the third quarter valued at $748,000. Thomasville National Bank grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 567,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,850,000 after buying an additional 16,364 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 88.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $516,373,000 after buying an additional 6,991,608 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 21.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,712,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $99,720,000 after buying an additional 483,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in NiSource in the third quarter valued at $3,068,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $40.09 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.67. The company has a market cap of $18.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.54. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.59 and a fifty-two week high of $40.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. This is an increase from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is 69.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on NI shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.13.

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.