Annex Advisory Services LLC Makes New $585,000 Investment in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Annex Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 15,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $585,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of NI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 88.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 53.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,124,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $176,194,000 after purchasing an additional 1,782,078 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $786,249,000 after buying an additional 1,247,368 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,162,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on NiSource in a report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NiSource currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.50.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $38.13 on Tuesday. NiSource Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.80 and a 1-year high of $38.56. The company has a market cap of $17.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $36.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.34.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 14.63%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $986.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.