NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.28

NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.28 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. This is a positive change from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27.

NiSource has raised its dividend by an average of 6.4% per year over the last three years. NiSource has a payout ratio of 53.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect NiSource to earn $1.86 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.06 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 57.0%.

NiSource Stock Down 0.4 %

NI traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $37.64. 3,043,031 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,315,615. NiSource has a fifty-two week low of $24.80 and a fifty-two week high of $38.83. The company has a market cap of $17.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.81, a PEG ratio of 2.79 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.43.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $986.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.19 EPS. NiSource’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that NiSource will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on NI shares. 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 lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays raised their price target on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of NiSource in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

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.