HF Advisory Group LLC Has $1.67 Million Stock Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

HF Advisory Group LLC trimmed its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 23.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 45,522 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 14,225 shares during the quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC's holdings in NiSource were worth $1,673,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in NiSource by 5.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $786,249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247,368 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,396,489 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $394,888,000 after purchasing an additional 99,882 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in NiSource by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 10,823,095 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $375,020,000 after buying an additional 316,225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in NiSource by 1.7% in the 3rd 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NI. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho boosted their price target on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on NiSource in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $39.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $37.50.

NiSource Price Performance

NYSE:NI traded up $0.10 on Friday, reaching $38.13. The stock had a trading volume of 3,496,866 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,740,236. The company has a market capitalization of $17.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $36.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $34.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. NiSource Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.80 and a 1-year high of $38.56.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $986.00 million. NiSource had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 8.27%. The company's revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.19 EPS. Research analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

About NiSource

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.