LifeWealth Investments LLC Invests $358,000 in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

LifeWealth Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 9,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $358,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NI. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in NiSource by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,793,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,124,492,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,452 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 21,370,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $785,563,000 after purchasing an additional 1,965,334 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 88.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,448,075 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $419,765,000 after purchasing an additional 700,747 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of NiSource by 185.0% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 9,244,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $339,837,000 after purchasing an additional 6,001,486 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NiSource Stock Up 1.3%

NI opened at $39.01 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.36 billion, a PE ratio of 24.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. NiSource Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.60 and a 52 week high of $41.45.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. 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 business earned $0.85 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.22, for a total value of $152,880.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 24,719 shares in the company, valued at $944,760.18. The trade was a 13.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Mizuho lifted their target price on NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, NiSource currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $41.50.

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.