State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Trims Stock Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D trimmed its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 153,831 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 16,008 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in NiSource were worth $5,330,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in NiSource during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. MCF Advisors LLC bought a new stake in NiSource during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in NiSource during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in NiSource during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of NiSource in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $39.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $37.50.

NiSource Price Performance

NiSource stock traded down $0.27 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $35.95. The company had a trading volume of 817,567 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,029,388. NiSource Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.61 and a 1-year high of $36.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.46. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $34.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.78 billion, a PE ratio of 21.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.05. NiSource had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 8.27%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $986.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.