Wesbanco Bank Inc. Has $1.43 Million Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 38,866 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 390 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $1,429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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 valued at $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 53.3% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,124,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $176,194,000 after purchasing an additional 1,782,078 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in NiSource by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $786,249,000 after buying an additional 1,247,368 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,162,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in NiSource by 118.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,616,189 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,449,000 after purchasing an additional 876,033 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of NiSource in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NiSource currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.50.

NiSource Price Performance

NI opened at $37.64 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $36.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.57 billion, a PE ratio of 22.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.46. NiSource Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.80 and a 52 week high of $38.83.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $986.00 million. NiSource had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 8.27%. NiSource’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This is a positive change from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.98%. NiSource’s payout ratio is 64.24%.

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.