Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Acquires 7,778 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 31.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,673 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,778 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $1,201,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Securian Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in NiSource by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 25,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $922,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the period. Aviso Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of NiSource by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 31,450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,156,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. raised its position in shares of NiSource by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 5,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 48,716 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,788,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in NiSource by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,457 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $363,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other NiSource 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $988,339.36. This represents 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 this link. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NI opened at $40.72 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $39.06 and a 200 day moving average of $37.01. The company has a market capitalization of $19.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.14, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.48. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $26.26 and a 12 month high of $41.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. NiSource’s payout ratio is 69.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on NI. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $39.33.

NiSource 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.