NiSource Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.28 (NYSE:NI)

NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 18th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.28 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th.

NiSource has increased its dividend by an average of 6.4% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 14 years. NiSource has a dividend payout ratio of 55.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect NiSource to earn $2.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.12 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 55.2%.

NiSource Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE NI traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $39.18. 10,561,717 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,705,532. NiSource has a 1 year low of $26.26 and a 1 year high of $41.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $38.67 and a 200 day moving average of $36.62. The stock has a market cap of $18.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that NiSource will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $38.89.

Insider Transactions at NiSource

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total value of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $988,339.36. This trade represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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.