Lazard Asset Management LLC Sells 28,865 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Lazard Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 7.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 362,603 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 28,865 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $10,028,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 1.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,946,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,519,823,000 after buying an additional 991,336 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,525,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $226,353,000 after buying an additional 1,826,202 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 7,272,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $193,083,000 after buying an additional 450,818 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 123.6% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,593,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $148,517,000 after buying an additional 3,092,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 4,336,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $115,142,000 after buying an additional 322,360 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NI traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $31.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,162,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,607,766. The company has a market cap of $14.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.48, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.63. NiSource Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.86 and a 52-week high of $31.55.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 earned $0.77 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

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 $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.28%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 3,742 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total value of $104,626.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,978 shares in the company, valued at $558,584.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on NI. Barclays raised their price objective 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. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of NiSource in a report on Thursday, July 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.50.

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.