1,800 Shares in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Purchased by Intact Investment Management Inc.

Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 1,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $66,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aviso Financial Inc. grew its holdings in NiSource by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 31,450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,156,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 184,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,787,000 after purchasing an additional 12,972 shares during the period. PGGM Investments boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 1,701.3% in the 4th quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 117,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,303,000 after purchasing an additional 110,550 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at $3,785,000. Finally, Vestcor Inc boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 16,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,599 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

NiSource Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $39.48 on Friday. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $26.25 and a one year high of $41.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.56 billion, a PE ratio of 24.37, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $38.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.43.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.