Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Raises Stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 884,787 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 31,752 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in NiSource were worth $32,525,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in NiSource by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 9,444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $327,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in NiSource in the 3rd quarter worth about $511,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in NiSource by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 65,308 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,103 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in NiSource by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,330,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,095,000 after acquiring an additional 5,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in NiSource in the 3rd quarter worth about $821,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Activity at NiSource

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $39.35 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.49 billion, a PE ratio of 24.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $38.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.56. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $26.26 and a 12 month high of $41.45.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm earned $0.53 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.14%.

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.