NiSource (NYSE:NI) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $35.00 to $38.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. NiSource traded as high as $35.13 and last traded at $35.10, with a volume of 2589289 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $34.49.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Mizuho assumed coverage on NiSource in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 target price for the company. Barclays upped their price target on NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America assumed coverage on NiSource in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Zimmer Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 146.2% during the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $246,388,000 after acquiring an additional 5,290,322 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,955,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,432,512,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850,842 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 68.1% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,342,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $96,407,000 after buying an additional 1,353,977 shares during the period. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL bought a new position in shares of NiSource during the first quarter worth about $34,419,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in NiSource by 118.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,616,189 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,449,000 after buying an additional 876,033 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NiSource Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $15.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.76, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 9.15%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.265 per share. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.28%.

About NiSource

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.