NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.28

NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.28 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27.

NiSource has increased its dividend payment by an average of 6.4% per year over the last three years. NiSource has a dividend payout ratio of 55.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect NiSource to earn $1.88 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.12 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 59.6%.

NiSource Stock Performance

NYSE:NI opened at $37.33 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $17.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.62, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.54. NiSource has a 1 year low of $24.80 and a 1 year high of $38.83. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for 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%. NiSource’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NiSource will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NI. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on NiSource in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays boosted their target price on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average 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.