Hennessy Advisors Inc. Buys 27,500 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 422,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,500 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned about 0.09% of NiSource worth $15,516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $786,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,368 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 valued at $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,396,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $394,888,000 after purchasing an additional 99,882 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in NiSource by 3.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 10,823,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $375,020,000 after purchasing an additional 316,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NiSource by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,747,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $371,139,000 after buying an additional 178,365 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Price Performance

NI opened at $38.09 on Friday. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.80 and a 1 year high of $38.56. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $36.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.13. The firm has a market cap of $17.78 billion, a PE ratio of 23.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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