PDS Planning Inc Has $211,000 Stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

PDS Planning Inc lowered its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 24.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,827 shares during the quarter. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in NiSource were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 5.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $786,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,368 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in 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 buying an additional 6,991,608 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in NiSource by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,396,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $394,888,000 after acquiring an additional 99,882 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in NiSource by 3.0% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 worth $371,139,000 after acquiring an additional 178,365 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NI opened at $39.35 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The company’s 50-day moving average is $38.54 and its 200 day moving average is $36.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.51. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.26 and a fifty-two week high of $41.45.

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

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.14%.

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.