Proficio Capital Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 171,816 NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 171,816 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,316,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of NI. State Street Corp lifted its stake in NiSource by 5.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $786,249,000 after buying an additional 1,247,368 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in NiSource by 88.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in NiSource by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,396,489 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $394,888,000 after purchasing an additional 99,882 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in NiSource by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 10,823,095 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $375,020,000 after acquiring an additional 316,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in NiSource by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,747,328 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $371,139,000 after acquiring an additional 178,365 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company's stock, valued at $988,339.36. This trade represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

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NiSource Stock Performance

NYSE:NI traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $39.32. 4,846,462 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,648,567. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $38.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.51. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.26 and a fifty-two week 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 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is a positive change from NiSource's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. NiSource's payout ratio is 69.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

NiSource 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.