NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Receives $41.11 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $41.50.

Several analysts have recently commented on NI shares. Barclays increased their target price on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho increased their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in NiSource by 110.9% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195 shares during the period. Thomasville National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 567,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,850,000 after buying an additional 16,364 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of NiSource by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,712,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $99,720,000 after buying an additional 483,491 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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 worth $516,373,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in NiSource during the 4th quarter valued at about $566,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $39.51 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $39.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.53. NiSource has a 1 year low of $27.60 and a 1 year high of $41.45.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that NiSource will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.