Proficio Capital Partners LLC Buys New Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 171,816 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,316,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 110.9% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195 shares during the period. ING Groep NV purchased a new position in NiSource in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $748,000. Thomasville National Bank boosted its position in NiSource by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 567,196 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $20,850,000 after purchasing an additional 16,364 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in NiSource by 21.7% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,712,724 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $99,720,000 after purchasing an additional 483,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in NiSource by 88.4% in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $38.13.

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Insider Activity

In related 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

NiSource Price Performance

NiSource stock traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.03. 174,231 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,661,738. The company has a market capitalization of $18.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.51. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $38.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.54. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.26 and a 1 year high of $41.45.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. NiSource's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.14%.

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.