Clarius Group LLC Decreases Holdings in NiSource, Inc $NI

Clarius Group LLC trimmed its position in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 12.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 714 shares during the quarter. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $209,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 29.9% during the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 234,234 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,390,000 after buying an additional 53,972 shares in the last quarter. Lincoln Capital Corp purchased a new position in NiSource in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,556,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in NiSource by 90.7% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 80,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,223,000 after purchasing an additional 38,237 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in NiSource by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 358,469 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,371,000 after purchasing an additional 43,947 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in NiSource in the 1st quarter worth approximately $710,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on NI shares. Wall Street Zen cut NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NiSource in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Zacks Research raised NiSource to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on NiSource from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut NiSource from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.44.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $43.60 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a market cap of $20.53 billion, a PE ratio of 23.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a 50 day moving average of $41.99 and a 200 day moving average of $40.36. NiSource, Inc has a 52 week low of $33.65 and a 52 week high of $44.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced 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 company 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. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

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

NiSource 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.