Wellington Management Group LLP Reduces Stock Position in NiSource, Inc $NI

Wellington Management Group LLP decreased its position in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 4.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,407,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 199,565 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 0.94% of NiSource worth $176,695,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Mariner LLC raised its holdings in NiSource by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 45,247 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,663,000 after acquiring an additional 2,987 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 499.7% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 19,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $700,000 after purchasing an additional 15,867 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,548,789 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,693,000 after purchasing an additional 46,072 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 123,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,542,000 after purchasing an additional 6,928 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded NiSource to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Barclays reissued 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of NiSource from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, 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. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NiSource currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.56.

NiSource Stock Up 0.5%

NI opened at $42.5080 on Thursday. NiSource, Inc has a 1 year low of $32.10 and a 1 year high of $43.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $40.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.59. The company has a market cap of $20.02 billion, a PE ratio of 22.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.01. NiSource had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 8.25%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.21 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NiSource news, EVP Melanie B. Berman sold 6,227 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $1,138,528.44. The trade was a 17.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.