Jones Financial Companies Lllp Raises Stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 64.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 111,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,439 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in NiSource were worth $4,092,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $786,249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247,368 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in NiSource by 88.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $516,373,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991,608 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in NiSource by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,396,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $394,888,000 after purchasing an additional 99,882 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of NiSource by 3.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 10,823,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $375,020,000 after acquiring an additional 316,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,747,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $371,139,000 after acquiring an additional 178,365 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NiSource Stock Down 3.6 %

NI stock opened at $39.75 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.54, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.04 and a twelve month high of $41.45.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. This is a boost from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is 69.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $38.13.

Insider Transactions at NiSource

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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.