NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Shares Bought by Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $393,000 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. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 153.2% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the third quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $38.13.

NiSource Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:NI opened at $38.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $18.06 billion, a PE ratio of 23.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $38.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.21. NiSource Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.04 and a 12-month high of $41.44. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This is a positive change from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.