Vestcor Inc Grows Stock Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Vestcor Inc lifted its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 11.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,599 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in NiSource were worth $590,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 153.2% in 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 period. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource in the third quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Eastern Bank increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 1,242.2% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 2,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Up 2.1 %

NI stock opened at $39.48 on Monday. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.25 and a fifty-two week high of $41.44. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $38.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.51. The company has a market capitalization of $18.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share 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 in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 2.84%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is 69.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total value of $219,560.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.