NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.28

NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, August 12th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.28 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, November 20th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st.

NiSource has a dividend payout ratio of 55.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect NiSource to earn $2.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.12 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 55.2%.

NiSource Trading Up 0.7%

NI opened at $42.67 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. NiSource has a 52 week low of $31.40 and a 52 week high of $43.51. The stock has a market cap of $20.09 billion, a PE ratio of 22.70, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a 50 day moving average of $40.61 and a 200-day moving average of $39.57.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 company earned $0.21 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that NiSource will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on NI shares. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.56.

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.