Millennium Management LLC Sells 7,798,319 Shares of NiSource, Inc $NI

Millennium Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 84.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,446,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 7,798,319 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC owned approximately 0.31% of NiSource worth $57,987,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 90.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 80,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,223,000 after purchasing an additional 38,237 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NiSource during the 1st quarter valued at about $710,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in NiSource by 55.3% during the first quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 515,040 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,645,000 after acquiring an additional 183,485 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in NiSource by 5.1% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 950,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,112,000 after acquiring an additional 45,791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its stake in NiSource by 11.1% during the first quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 89,313 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,581,000 after acquiring an additional 8,919 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $40.35 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $41.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.02. The company has a market cap of $19.00 billion, a PE ratio of 21.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.60. NiSource, Inc has a 52-week low of $33.03 and a 52-week high of $43.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.59.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 8.25%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.21 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on NI. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of NiSource from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Friday. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $44.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of NiSource in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Zacks Research raised NiSource to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.11.

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.