Natixis Advisors L.P. Boosts Stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 118.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 590,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 320,218 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $15,671,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in NiSource in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in NiSource by 82.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 985 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in NiSource during the third quarter worth about $55,000. Finally, Tobam boosted its stake in NiSource by 3,994.6% during the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 2,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 2,237 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $28.76 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $27.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.40. NiSource Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.86 and a 52-week high of $28.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $12.89 billion, a PE ratio of 19.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.49.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). NiSource had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 12.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.265 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.69%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NiSource news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 11,141 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total transaction of $297,019.06. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $632,375.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NI. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on NiSource from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd.

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.