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

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 171,816 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,316,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in NiSource by 98.0% in the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 18,700 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $687,000 after acquiring an additional 9,256 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in NiSource by 202.5% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,538 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 1,699 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH boosted its position in NiSource by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 15,167 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $558,000 after buying an additional 1,653 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its stake in NiSource by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,271,039 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $46,723,000 after acquiring an additional 135,770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in NiSource by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,121,587 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $151,510,000 after acquiring an additional 207,391 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 directly owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $38.13.

NiSource Stock Performance

NiSource stock traded down $0.50 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $38.86. 1,907,019 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,660,837. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $38.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.41. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from NiSource's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. NiSource's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.