Sovereign Investment Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Sovereign Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 21,074 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $775,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NI. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 110.9% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 1,195 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter worth $748,000. Thomasville National Bank increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 567,196 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $20,850,000 after purchasing an additional 16,364 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in NiSource by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,712,724 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $99,720,000 after purchasing an additional 483,491 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in NiSource by 88.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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NiSource Price Performance

NI traded down $0.16 during trading on Monday, reaching $39.32. 4,846,462 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,648,567. The company has a market cap of $18.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.27, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.51. NiSource Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.26 and a 12-month high of $41.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.50.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from NiSource's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. NiSource's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $38.13.

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.