Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Purchases 6,695 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,375 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,695 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.'s holdings in NiSource were worth $2,219,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 5.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $786,249,000 after buying an additional 1,247,368 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 88.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $516,373,000 after buying an additional 6,991,608 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 0.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,396,489 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $394,888,000 after buying an additional 99,882 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 3.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 10,823,095 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $375,020,000 after buying an additional 316,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,747,328 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $371,139,000 after buying an additional 178,365 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NiSource Stock Performance

NiSource stock traded up $0.85 on Thursday, hitting $39.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,651,210 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,845,828. The firm has a market cap of $18.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $37.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.25. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $25.13 and a one year high of $39.88.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 8.27%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This is a positive change from NiSource's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. NiSource's dividend payout ratio is presently 67.88%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on NI. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays upped their target price 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of NiSource in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $39.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $38.13.

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.