Private Trust Co. NA Increases Stock Holdings in NiSource, Inc $NI

Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 390.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,880 shares during the quarter. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in NiSource were worth $95,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 21,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $866,000 after acquiring an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in NiSource by 4.3% during the second quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $839,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in NiSource in the 2nd quarter worth about $976,000. Kiker Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in NiSource by 136.1% in the 2nd quarter. Kiker Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $662,000 after buying an additional 9,454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moran Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 100,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,051,000 after buying an additional 2,942 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on NiSource from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group cut NiSource from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Zacks Research raised shares of NiSource to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of NiSource from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.78.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NI opened at $44.11 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.77 billion, a PE ratio of 23.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $42.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.63. NiSource, Inc has a twelve month low of $34.23 and a twelve month high of $44.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 8.25%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.21 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.57%.

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.