Rothschild Investment LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Rothschild Investment LLC reduced its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 44,017 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 391 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $1,618,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. TCW Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 1,704,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $62,641,000 after acquiring an additional 183,701 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Funds Management LTD bought a new stake in NiSource during the fourth quarter worth about $8,497,000. ING Groep NV lifted its stake in NiSource by 113.2% during the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 46,018 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,692,000 after purchasing an additional 24,434 shares during the last quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC now owns 13,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 1,257 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Buckingham Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of NiSource by 59.6% during the 4th quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 136,493 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,017,000 after purchasing an additional 50,990 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $988,339.36. This trade represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on NI. Mizuho upped their target price on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.13.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NI opened at $39.94 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $37.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.73. The company has a market cap of $18.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.54. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.59 and a 12 month high of $40.29.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is an increase from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is 69.14%.

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.