Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Takes $591,000 Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 17,051 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $591,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in NiSource in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. MCF Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of NiSource in the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource during the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NiSource Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $38.23 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $17.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.46. NiSource Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.80 and a 52 week high of $38.28.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $986.00 million. NiSource had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 8.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on NI shares. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of NiSource in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho lifted their target price on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

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.