Kennedy Capital Management LLC Sells 8,201 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Kennedy Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 7.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 107,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 8,201 shares during the quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $2,968,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. TCW Group Inc. grew its position in shares of NiSource by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 792,187 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,033,000 after buying an additional 57,498 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its holdings in NiSource by 7.1% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 438,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,144,000 after purchasing an additional 29,055 shares during the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource during the fourth quarter worth $1,049,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 515,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,265,000 after purchasing an additional 57,658 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HF Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter worth $1,559,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NI. Mizuho assumed coverage on NiSource in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 target price on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of NiSource from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.50.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NI traded down $0.28 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $31.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 426,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,213,369. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.86 and a twelve month high of $31.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.96 billion, a PE ratio of 20.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $29.09 and a 200 day moving average of $27.70.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. NiSource had a net margin of 14.23% and a return on equity of 9.56%. The company had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.77 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.265 per share. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 3,742 shares of NiSource 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,978 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $558,584.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.