UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Has $2.29 Million Stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 18.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 62,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,744 shares during the quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in NiSource were worth $2,293,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in NiSource by 88.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,373,000 after buying an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,793,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,124,492,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,452 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings 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 valued at $786,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,368 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 793.3% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 883,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,609,000 after purchasing an additional 784,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service bought a new position in shares of NiSource during the fourth quarter valued at about $24,642,000. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Price Performance

NiSource stock opened at $39.88 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.87. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $26.26 and a 12 month high of $41.45. The company has a market cap of $18.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.62, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. 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 net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.14%.

Insider Transactions at NiSource

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on NI shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho increased their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $39.33.

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.