Invesco Ltd. Boosts Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 49.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,199,873 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,714,262 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 1.76% of NiSource worth $301,427,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NI. Polymer Capital Management US LLC purchased a new stake in NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at $13,785,000. Polymer Capital Management HK LTD acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at about $993,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 73,305 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,695,000 after buying an additional 1,555 shares during the last quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co acquired a new stake in NiSource during the fourth quarter worth about $5,367,000. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in NiSource during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,991,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NI stock traded up $0.10 on Wednesday, reaching $39.57. 424,083 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,694,835. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.70 and a 1 year high of $41.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $39.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.30. The company has a market cap of $18.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.48.

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NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 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 period last year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. NiSource's payout ratio is 69.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, NiSource currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $39.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the company'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 value of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. This represents 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 at this link. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

NiSource 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.