Machina Capital S.A.S. Has $794,000 Stock Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Machina Capital S.A.S. raised its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 195.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,604 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 14,303 shares during the period. Machina Capital S.A.S.'s holdings in NiSource were worth $794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in NiSource by 12.0% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,442 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $119,000 after buying an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in shares of NiSource by 269.7% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 132,702 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,598,000 after acquiring an additional 96,809 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in NiSource by 2.1% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,334 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $531,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd boosted its holdings in NiSource by 16.1% in the third quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 33,251 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,152,000 after purchasing an additional 4,613 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in NiSource by 12.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,243,984 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $77,751,000 after purchasing an additional 255,348 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company's stock.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares of the company's stock, valued at $988,339.36. This trade represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

NiSource Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:NI traded up $0.26 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.08. The company had a trading volume of 4,637,567 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,416,958. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.32. The firm has a market cap of $18.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. NiSource Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.04 and a 1-year high of $41.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from NiSource's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. NiSource's dividend payout ratio is currently 69.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Eight equities research 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 $38.13.

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.