Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Has $6.79 Million Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 184,642 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 12,972 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC's holdings in NiSource were worth $6,787,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NI. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of NiSource by 110.9% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195 shares during the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank lifted its position in NiSource by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 567,196 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $20,850,000 after purchasing an additional 16,364 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $99,720,000 after purchasing an additional 483,491 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 88.4% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Moran Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,068,000. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company's stock.

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Insider Activity

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 value of $219,560.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $39.33.

NiSource Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NiSource stock traded up $0.33 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.94. The stock had a trading volume of 4,530,350 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,706,998. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a market capitalization of $18.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $38.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.76. NiSource Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.26 and a 52 week high of $41.45.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) 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 net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. NiSource's dividend payout ratio is 69.14%.

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.