Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Boosts Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 671 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $598,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 527 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Eastern Bank increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 1,242.2% during the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 2,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NI stock opened at $39.08 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $18.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.12, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The business’s fifty day moving average is $38.24 and its 200 day moving average is $36.34. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.04 and a twelve 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.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 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 in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. This is an increase from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. NiSource’s payout ratio is 69.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 $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 through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% 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.