T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Acquires 1,965,334 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 10.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,370,032 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 1,965,334 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 4.58% of NiSource worth $785,563,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan purchased a new position in NiSource during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its stake in NiSource by 153.2% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 95.7% in the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,679 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 821 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NiSource 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. This trade represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NI. UBS Group boosted their price objective on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $39.33.

NiSource Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $39.00 on Wednesday. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.46 and a 1 year high of $41.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market cap of $18.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.07, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.48. The firm's 50-day moving average is $39.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.44.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last issued 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. NiSource's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.

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