B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Buys 7,297 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG raised its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 31.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,322 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 7,297 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG's holdings in NiSource were worth $1,115,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in NiSource by 110.9% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 1,195 shares during the period. Thomasville National Bank raised its position in shares of NiSource by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 567,196 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $20,850,000 after purchasing an additional 16,364 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 21.7% during 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position 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 period. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $566,000. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company's stock.

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NiSource Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE NI traded up $0.82 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $37.98. The company had a trading volume of 995,778 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,600,242. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.12. The company has a market capitalization of $17.87 billion, a PE ratio of 23.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.48. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $26.25 and a one year high of $41.44.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share 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 in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued 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 yield of 2.95%. NiSource's payout ratio is 69.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on NI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho boosted 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, March 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $39.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NiSource 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.