Icon Advisers Inc. Co. Lowers Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Icon Advisers Inc. Co. cut its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 36.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 17,151 shares during the quarter. Icon Advisers Inc. Co.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $1,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,793,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,124,492,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459,452 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in NiSource by 88.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,373,000 after buying an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,448,075 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $419,765,000 after buying an additional 700,747 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in NiSource by 49.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,199,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $301,427,000 after acquiring an additional 2,714,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in NiSource during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $195,745,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on NI shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.33.

Insider Activity

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NI stock opened at $38.41 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.26 and a fifty-two week high of $41.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $39.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.25. The stock has a market cap of $18.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.48.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. NiSource’s payout ratio is currently 69.14%.

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.