NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Shares Purchased by Jennison Associates LLC

Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 3.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,823,095 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 316,225 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned about 2.32% of NiSource worth $375,020,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 1.6% during the first quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 45,166 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,249,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in NiSource by 1.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,946,594 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,519,823,000 after purchasing an additional 991,336 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource in the first quarter valued at $321,000. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 631.2% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 38,946 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,077,000 after buying an additional 33,620 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its position in NiSource by 7.1% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 438,845 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $12,144,000 after acquiring an additional 29,055 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on NI. Bank of America started coverage on shares of NiSource in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a "buy" rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, October 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $39.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $37.50.

NiSource Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:NI traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $37.28. 1,106,244 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,052,615. The firm has a market cap of $17.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.76. NiSource Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.80 and a 52-week high of $37.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

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

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.