Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Purchases 20,244 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 4.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 467,525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 20,244 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in NiSource were worth $12,787,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NI. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $593,000 after purchasing an additional 2,614 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 106,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,397,000 after acquiring an additional 20,064 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. boosted its holdings in NiSource by 66.2% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 146,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,660,000 after acquiring an additional 58,398 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in NiSource by 29.7% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,952,676 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $62,093,000 after acquiring an additional 447,102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. purchased a new position in NiSource in the 1st quarter worth approximately $472,000. 94.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $27.67 on Friday. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.78 and a 1 year high of $29.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s 50-day moving average is $27.10 and its 200 day moving average is $27.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.34.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 12.00% and a return on equity of 10.90%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.12 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 31st will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 30th. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.44%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on NiSource from $31.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 21st. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of NiSource from $31.00 to $30.00 in a report on Friday, July 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 12th. UBS Group raised NiSource from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on NiSource from $31.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, NiSource currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.00.

Insider Activity at NiSource

In other news, EVP William Jr. Jefferson sold 4,875 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.80, for a total value of $130,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $828,254. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP William Jr. Jefferson sold 4,875 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction on Friday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.80, for a total transaction of $130,650.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,905 shares in the company, valued at $828,254. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Donald Eugene Brown sold 14,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.64, for a total value of $372,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 187,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,989,085.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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 through two segments, Gas Distribution Operations and Electric Operations. The company distributes natural gas to approximately 859,000 customers in northern Indiana, as well as approximately 2.4 million residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and Maryland.