M&T Bank Corp Sells 323 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

M&T Bank Corp lowered its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 52,671 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 323 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in NiSource were worth $1,937,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in NiSource by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of NiSource by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $531,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 12.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,243,984 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,751,000 after buying an additional 255,348 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 5.1% during the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $372,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $38.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. This trade represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NI stock opened at $38.44 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $38.11 and its 200 day moving average is $36.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market cap of $18.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.73, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.04 and a twelve month high of $41.44.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released 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 in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is an increase from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.14%.

NiSource 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.