abrdn plc Has $7.34 Million Stock Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

abrdn plc increased its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 52.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 212,272 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 73,426 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc's holdings in NiSource were worth $7,339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Zimmer Partners LP grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 146.2% during the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $246,388,000 after buying an additional 5,290,322 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 68.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,342,831 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $96,407,000 after purchasing an additional 1,353,977 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource during the 1st quarter valued at $34,419,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,946,594 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,519,823,000 after purchasing an additional 991,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of NiSource by 118.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,616,189 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $46,449,000 after acquiring an additional 876,033 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho increased their price target on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of NiSource in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $39.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $37.50.

NiSource Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE:NI traded down $0.67 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $34.49. 3,137,095 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,713,564. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $16.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.51. NiSource Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.58 and a 52-week high of $35.48. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.06.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during 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 business's revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.19 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. NiSource's dividend payout ratio is presently 64.24%.

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.