PGGM Investments Raises Stock Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

PGGM Investments raised its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 1,701.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 117,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 110,550 shares during the quarter. PGGM Investments’ holdings in NiSource were worth $4,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 88.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,373,000 after buying an additional 6,991,608 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in NiSource by 53.3% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,124,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $176,194,000 after acquiring an additional 1,782,078 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in NiSource by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $786,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,368 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,162,000. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

NiSource Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:NI opened at $38.66 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $38.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.34. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.04 and a 1 year high of $41.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. This is a boost from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. NiSource’s payout ratio is presently 69.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company 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.