First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 106,095 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,849,281 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 106,095 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.40% of NiSource worth $67,980,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in NiSource by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,793,581 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,124,492,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459,452 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in NiSource by 88.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $516,373,000 after buying an additional 6,991,608 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in NiSource by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,448,075 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $419,765,000 after buying an additional 700,747 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in NiSource by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,199,873 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $301,427,000 after acquiring an additional 2,714,262 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors purchased a new position in NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at about $219,977,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NI shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho raised their target price on NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays lifted their price objective on NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $40.33.

NiSource Trading Down 0.6 %

NiSource stock traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $39.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,746,620 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,146,356. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $39.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.49. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.46 and a 12 month high of $41.45. The stock has a market cap of $18.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. NiSource's payout ratio is 69.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company's stock, valued at $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.