Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Purchases 586 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 10.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,379 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $235,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NI. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in NiSource by 153.2% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in NiSource during the third quarter worth $33,000. Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in NiSource during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in NiSource during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in NiSource during the third quarter worth $47,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

NiSource Stock Performance

NI opened at $38.44 on Monday. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $38.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.23. NiSource Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.04 and a 1-year high of $41.44. The company 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 (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 last year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. On average, analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $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 available at this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.