Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Cuts Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund cut its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 7.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,643 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,080 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in NiSource were worth $377,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BOKF NA boosted its position in NiSource by 104.7% during the first quarter. BOKF NA now owns 179,472 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,932,000 after buying an additional 91,778 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource during the first quarter valued at about $3,577,000. DC Investments Management LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource during the first quarter valued at about $1,018,000. Shell Asset Management Co. raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 43.0% during the first quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 75,662 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,093,000 after acquiring an additional 22,742 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NiSource stock traded down $0.02 on Monday, hitting $31.31. 723,348 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,222,655. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.04 billion, a PE ratio of 20.45, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.51. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.86 and a 1 year high of $31.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.66.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 14.23% and a return on equity of 9.56%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.265 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. NiSource’s payout ratio is 69.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NI. Mizuho began coverage on shares of NiSource in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 3,742 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total transaction of $104,626.32. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,978 shares in the company, valued at approximately $558,584.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.