Callan Family Office LLC Purchases New Shares in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $278,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NI. 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 in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $531,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $372,000 after buying an additional 517 shares during the period. Finally, Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 9,444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $327,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NiSource Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:NI opened at $38.48 on Tuesday. NiSource Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.04 and a 12-month high of $41.44. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $18.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.28.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.