Principal Street Partners LLC Reduces Stock Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Principal Street Partners LLC reduced its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 881 shares during the period. Principal Street Partners LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,352,182 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,852,000 after purchasing an additional 273,159 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 88.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 4th quarter worth about $230,000. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 153.2% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares during the period. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 6,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total value of $233,590.18. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,541 shares in the company, valued at approximately $701,035.21. The trade was a 24.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NI opened at $39.49 on Wednesday. NiSource Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.60 and a 1-year high of $41.45. The company has a 50-day moving average of $39.10 and a 200 day moving average of $38.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.38, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.08. NiSource had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.85 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, NiSource presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.50.

NiSource 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.