Czech National Bank Acquires 9,841 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 10.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 101,207 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 9,841 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank's holdings in NiSource were worth $3,720,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NI. ING Groep NV bought a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 3rd quarter valued at about $748,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in NiSource by 88.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in NiSource in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,068,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource during the third quarter valued at approximately $798,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 0.7% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,374,053 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $183,636,000 after purchasing an additional 44,598 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on NiSource in a report on Monday, October 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $39.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $37.50.

NiSource Stock Up 3.2 %

NI traded up $1.18 on Thursday, hitting $38.09. The company had a trading volume of 3,376,407 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,253,151. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.54. NiSource Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.80 and a 52-week high of $38.56.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $986.00 million. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 14.63%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.