Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Acquires 25,294 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 12.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 224,785 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 25,294 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in NiSource were worth $8,263,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in NiSource by 153.2% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in NiSource in the third quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at about $66,000. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company's stock.

NiSource Price Performance

NiSource stock traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $39.76. The company had a trading volume of 2,455,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,696,006. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.78. The company has a market cap of $18.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.26 and a fifty-two week high of $41.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

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

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. NiSource's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. This 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 the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $39.33.

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.