HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 53.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 759,910 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 858,009 shares during the quarter. NiSource comprises about 3.0% of HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $26,331,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NI. FMR LLC lifted its position in NiSource by 0.9% during the third 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 period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 316,225 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in NiSource by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,374,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $183,636,000 after acquiring an additional 44,598 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased 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 buying an additional 1,782,078 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 1.4% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,908,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $141,415,000 after purchasing an additional 67,697 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NI. Bank of America began coverage on NiSource in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of NiSource in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

NiSource Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $37.35 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The company has a market capitalization of $17.43 billion, a PE ratio of 22.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.53. NiSource Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.80 and a 12-month high of $38.56. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $35.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.27.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 14.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $986.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.19 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.