12,000 Shares in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Purchased by Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC

Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 12,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $441,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in NI. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in NiSource by 153.2% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in NiSource during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in NiSource during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in NiSource during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NI shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho upped their price objective on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.13.

Insider Activity

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

NiSource Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE NI opened at $40.79 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $19.17 billion, a PE ratio of 25.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.54. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $25.71 and a one year high of $40.88. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.91. 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 return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, sell-side 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is an increase from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.14%.

NiSource 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.