NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Shares Purchased by Beck Bode LLC

Beck Bode LLC raised its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 438,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,465 shares during the quarter. NiSource comprises about 2.5% of Beck Bode LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Beck Bode LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $12,634,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NI. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 146.2% in 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. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in NiSource by 123.6% in 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 buying an additional 3,092,138 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at about $70,090,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,955,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,432,512,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850,842 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of NiSource by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,525,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $226,353,000 after acquiring an additional 1,826,202 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on NI. Mizuho assumed coverage on NiSource in a report on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price target for the company. Barclays raised their price target 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. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of NiSource in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.43.

NiSource Stock Performance

NiSource stock opened at $34.18 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.63. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.86 and a 12 month high of $34.49. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $31.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.30. The company has a market cap of $15.32 billion, a PE ratio of 22.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 9.15%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. Research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.265 per share. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. NiSource’s payout ratio is 69.28%.

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.