Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $156.66 Million Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,261,578 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 155,808 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.91% of NiSource worth $156,656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in NiSource by 88.4% during 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 during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in NiSource by 53.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,124,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $176,194,000 after purchasing an additional 1,782,078 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in NiSource by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $786,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,368 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in NiSource during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,162,000. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in NiSource by 793.3% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 883,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,609,000 after purchasing an additional 784,495 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NiSource Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:NI opened at $40.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.17 billion, a PE ratio of 25.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.54. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.71 and a 1 year high of $40.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) 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 prior year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. Analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, NiSource currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $38.13.

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.