NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Analysts

NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $37.50.

NI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on NiSource in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th.

NiSource Stock Down 2.4 %

NiSource stock opened at $35.53 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.46. NiSource has a 52-week low of $24.80 and a 52-week high of $38.56. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $36.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.77. The firm has a market cap of $16.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.54.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $986.00 million. NiSource had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 8.27%. NiSource’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. Equities analysts predict that NiSource will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in NiSource by 2.1% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $531,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in NiSource by 12.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in NiSource by 4.1% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,457 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $363,000 after acquiring an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in NiSource by 3.2% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 13,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $483,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in NiSource by 1.6% in the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 27,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $937,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

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.