25,000 Shares in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Bought by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 25,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $664,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in NiSource during the fourth quarter worth $1,049,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in NiSource by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 803,652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,337,000 after buying an additional 128,497 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in NiSource by 54.0% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 201,128 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,964,000 after buying an additional 70,487 shares during the period. Westover Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in NiSource in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,053,000. Finally, Strs Ohio increased its holdings in NiSource by 25.8% in the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 1,478,169 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,481,000 after buying an additional 303,061 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th.

NiSource Stock Down 0.6 %

NI opened at $27.94 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.85. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.86 and a twelve month high of $28.95. The firm has a market cap of $12.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.01, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.49.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). NiSource had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 12.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.265 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 11,141 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total transaction of $297,019.06. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $632,375.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NiSource 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.