Tredje AP fonden Has $1.29 Million Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Tredje AP fonden lessened its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 50.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 35,164 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 35,163 shares during the quarter. Tredje AP fonden’s holdings in NiSource were worth $1,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vestcor Inc boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 16,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $590,000 after buying an additional 1,599 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 159,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,868,000 after buying an additional 11,760 shares during the last quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 25,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $922,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 66,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,427,000 after buying an additional 3,238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in NiSource by 343.1% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 1,705 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at NiSource

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NI opened at $39.48 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $18.56 billion, a PE ratio of 24.37, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $38.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.41. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.25 and a 1 year high of $41.44.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. This is a positive change from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. NiSource’s payout ratio is presently 69.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.13.

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.