Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Raises Stock Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 410,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,348 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in NiSource were worth $15,096,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of NI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 6,991,608 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of NiSource by 53.3% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,124,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $176,194,000 after acquiring an additional 1,782,078 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of NiSource by 5.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $786,249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247,368 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. purchased a new position in NiSource during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,162,000. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 784,495 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

NiSource Price Performance

NYSE NI opened at $38.91 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.54. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.26 and a 12-month high of $41.45. The firm has a market capitalization 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 (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly 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 business earned $0.53 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the business’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 directly owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.