Natixis Advisors LLC Purchases 5,757 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 1.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 586,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,757 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $20,313,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. MCF Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in NiSource during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in NiSource during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in NiSource during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in NiSource during the second quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on NI. Mizuho increased their price target on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their price target on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on NiSource in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price target for the company. Bank of America initiated coverage on NiSource in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.50.

NiSource Stock Performance

NYSE:NI opened at $36.81 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $17.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.31, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. NiSource Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.80 and a 1-year high of $36.81.

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

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.