Bailard Inc. Acquires 10,816 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Bailard Inc. raised its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 55.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 30,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,816 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $805,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in NiSource by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 13,487 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178 shares during the last quarter. Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP bought a new position in NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at $401,000. Bfsg LLC bought a new stake in shares of NiSource during the fourth quarter worth $5,696,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of NiSource during the fourth quarter worth $178,000. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN raised its position in shares of NiSource by 1,235.4% during the fourth quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 211,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,618,000 after acquiring an additional 195,744 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NI shares. Barclays boosted their target price on NiSource from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other NiSource news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 11,141 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total value of $297,019.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $632,375.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $27.94 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.86 and a 12 month high of $28.95. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.29. The stock has a market cap of $12.52 billion, a PE ratio of 19.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.49.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). NiSource had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.79%. NiSource’s payout ratio is 72.11%.

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.