Morningstar Investment Management LLC Cuts Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Morningstar Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 12.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 828 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $212,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in NiSource by 31.6% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,598 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $159,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in NiSource by 6.5% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 436,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,115,000 after buying an additional 26,572 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in NiSource by 249.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 30,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,071,000 after buying an additional 22,066 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 27.4% in the 3rd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 61,251 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,122,000 after acquiring an additional 13,171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ausbil Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter worth $6,871,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on NiSource in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.13.

Insider Activity

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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Up 0.6 %

NiSource stock opened at $40.10 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.45 and a twelve month high of $40.15. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.14%.

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.