XTX Topco Ltd Purchases New Shares in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 56,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,090,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NI. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in shares of NiSource by 153.2% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in NiSource during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at $66,000. Finally, Eastern Bank increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 1,242.2% in the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 2,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. UBS Group lifted 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

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

NiSource Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $38.41 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.25. NiSource Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.26 and a 12-month high of $41.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market cap of $18.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.71, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.48.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.14%.

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.