Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC Buys New Shares in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 7,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $267,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 7.1% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 438,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,144,000 after buying an additional 29,055 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 515,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,265,000 after purchasing an additional 57,658 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 26.0% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 796,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $22,036,000 after purchasing an additional 164,532 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in NiSource by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 598,359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,551,000 after purchasing an additional 20,060 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in NiSource by 47.8% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 647,984 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,923,000 after purchasing an additional 209,451 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $35.97 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.51. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.61 and a twelve month high of $36.17. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.33.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $986.00 million. NiSource had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 8.27%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. NiSource’s payout ratio is currently 64.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on NI shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of NiSource in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NiSource presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.50.

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.