The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 147,835 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company cut its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,322,812 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 147,835 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in NiSource were worth $45,835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NI. MCF Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in NiSource during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in NiSource during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in NiSource during the 2nd quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in NiSource during the 2nd quarter valued at about $47,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays increased their target price on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on NiSource in a report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.50.

NiSource Stock Performance

NI opened at $38.25 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $17.85 billion, a PE ratio of 23.18, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The business has a 50 day moving average of $35.28 and a 200-day moving average of $32.12. NiSource Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.80 and a 52 week high of $38.56.

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

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.