OLD National Bancorp IN Has $13.34 Million Stock Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

OLD National Bancorp IN grew its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 362,967 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,211 shares during the quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN owned about 0.08% of NiSource worth $13,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its position in NiSource by 153.2% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $47,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in NiSource in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in NiSource during the 2nd quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NI has been the topic of several research reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on NiSource in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.50.

NiSource Price Performance

NiSource stock opened at $36.70 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $17.13 billion, a PE ratio of 22.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.54. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $24.80 and a one year high of $38.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $36.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.70.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 8.27%. The business’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 company earned $0.19 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This is a positive change from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.24%.

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.