Mizuho Raises NiSource (NYSE:NI) Price Target to $40.00

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) had its price objective lifted by research analysts at Mizuho from $38.00 to $40.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "outperform" rating on the utilities provider's stock. Mizuho's price objective points to a potential upside of 15.98% from the company's previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on NI. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of NiSource in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Barclays boosted their target price on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on NiSource in a report on Monday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $39.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $37.50.

NiSource Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NiSource stock traded down $0.67 on Friday, hitting $34.49. 3,135,337 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,035,585. The company has a fifty day moving average of $34.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.03. NiSource has a one year low of $24.58 and a one year high of $35.48. The company has a market capitalization of $15.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (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 analysts' expectations of $986.00 million. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 14.63%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.19 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that NiSource will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of NiSource

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of NiSource by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,334 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $531,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in NiSource by 12.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,442 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 0.7% in the second quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 53,719 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,548,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the period. Aurora Investment Counsel lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 62,589 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,803,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 14,291 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.