National Bank of Canada FI Grows Position in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI)

National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 20.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 673,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 115,283 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in NiSource were worth $27,014,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan purchased a new position in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 64.2% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 48.8% in the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 44.7% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 105.0% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 1,281 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NI shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on NiSource from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $44.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of NiSource in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NiSource presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Melanie B. Berman sold 6,227 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total transaction of $245,468.34. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 28,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,528.44. This represents a 17.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 6,178 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total value of $233,590.18. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,541 shares in the company, valued at approximately $701,035.21. This represents a 24.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,405 shares of company stock worth $631,939. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $42.26 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $40.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.48. NiSource, Inc has a 1-year low of $30.66 and a 1-year high of $43.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.48, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.25% and a net margin of 14.46%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.21 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

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 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.