Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Increases Stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,305 shares during the quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $692,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NI. Achmea Investment Management B.V. purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the first quarter valued at about $33,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in NiSource during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new stake in NiSource during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in NiSource by 41.4% during the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Money Concepts Capital Corp bought a new stake in NiSource during the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NI stock opened at $26.56 on Wednesday. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.86 and a 12 month high of $28.95. The stock has a market cap of $11.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.12.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). NiSource had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.99%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.11%.

Insider Transactions at NiSource

In other news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 11,141 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total value of $297,019.06. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $632,375.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NI has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd.

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.