Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Has $300,000 Stock Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp lowered its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 34.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,284 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,818 shares during the period. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp’s holdings in NiSource were worth $300,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NI. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in NiSource by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,111,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $323,582,000 after buying an additional 39,374 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of NiSource by 4.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,101,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $199,952,000 after purchasing an additional 326,999 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,070,847 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $125,149,000 after purchasing an additional 865,245 shares in the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. grew its position in NiSource by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,400,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $108,605,000 after purchasing an additional 319,143 shares during the period. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its stake in NiSource by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 4,014,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $99,076,000 after purchasing an additional 382,569 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 11,141 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total transaction of $297,019.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,720 shares in the company, valued at $632,375.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on NI. StockNews.com raised shares of NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NI stock opened at $27.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $26.96 and a 200-day moving average of $26.29. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $22.86 and a one year high of $28.95. The company has a market cap of $12.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.49.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). NiSource had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 12.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.265 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.79%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.11%.

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.