NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI – Get Rating) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $29.17.
Several equities research analysts have recently commented on NI shares. StockNews.com started coverage on NiSource in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on NiSource from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on NiSource to $31.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 14th.
NiSource Trading Down 1.8 %
Shares of NI stock opened at $27.47 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.12. NiSource has a fifty-two week low of $23.78 and a fifty-two week high of $32.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.
NiSource (NYSE:NI – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 22nd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.01. NiSource had a return on equity of 11.13% and a net margin of 13.51%. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that NiSource will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
NiSource Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 19th. Investors of record on Friday, April 28th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 27th. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.82%.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On NiSource
Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in NiSource by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,613,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,673,113,000 after purchasing an additional 5,153,843 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in NiSource by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 41,079,529 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,034,796,000 after purchasing an additional 760,163 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in NiSource by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,107,243 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $769,903,000 after purchasing an additional 1,914,399 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 21.7% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 19,362,316 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $530,915,000 after acquiring an additional 3,455,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,779,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $288,404,000 after acquiring an additional 695,846 shares during the last quarter. 92.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
NiSource Company Profile
NiSource, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of energy solutions. It operates under the Gas Distribution Operations and Electric Operations segments. The Gas Distribution Operations segment provides natural gas service and transportation for residential, commercial, and industrial customers.
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