Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda Buys New Shares in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 9,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $315,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of NiSource by 1.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,946,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,519,823,000 after purchasing an additional 991,336 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP increased its holdings in NiSource by 146.2% in the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $246,388,000 after buying an additional 5,290,322 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,374,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $183,636,000 after buying an additional 44,598 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,908,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $141,415,000 after buying an additional 67,697 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 68.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,342,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $96,407,000 after acquiring an additional 1,353,977 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Trading Up 0.8 %

NI stock opened at $34.49 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $33.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.63. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.58 and a fifty-two week high of $35.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.06. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 14.76%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.11 earnings per share. Analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on NI. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of NiSource in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price target for the company. Bank of America initiated coverage on NiSource in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.00.

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.