NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) to Issue $0.28 Quarterly Dividend

NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 18th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of 0.28 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, May 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%.

NiSource has raised its dividend by an average of 6.4% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 14 consecutive years. NiSource has a dividend payout ratio of 55.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect NiSource to earn $2.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.12 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 55.2%.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NI traded down $0.46 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $38.91. The company had a trading volume of 5,973,533 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,676,539. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.50. The stock has a market cap of $18.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. NiSource has a 1 year low of $26.26 and a 1 year high of $41.45. 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 (NYSE:NI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that NiSource will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity at NiSource

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $988,339.36. This trade represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.