BMO Capital Markets Boosts NiSource (NYSE:NI) Price Target to $36.00

NiSource (NYSE:NI) had its price target lifted by BMO Capital Markets from $34.00 to $36.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

NI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Mizuho started coverage on NiSource in a report on Thursday, July 11th. They set an outperform rating and a $33.00 target price for the company. Barclays raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $32.43.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NI stock opened at $34.06 on Thursday. NiSource has a 52 week low of $22.86 and a 52 week high of $34.14. The company has a market capitalization of $15.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.78.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 14.76%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.11 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that NiSource will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.28%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NiSource

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of NI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,946,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,519,823,000 after buying an additional 991,336 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 146.2% in the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $246,388,000 after purchasing an additional 5,290,322 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,525,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $226,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,826,202 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its position in NiSource by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 7,272,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $193,083,000 after purchasing an additional 450,818 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in NiSource by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,374,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $183,636,000 after purchasing an additional 44,598 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

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.