NiSource, Inc $NI Shares Purchased by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its holdings in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 6.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 447,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 26,685 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in NiSource were worth $18,034,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in NiSource by 29.9% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 234,234 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,390,000 after purchasing an additional 53,972 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in NiSource by 90.7% in the first 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. Lincoln Capital Corp acquired a new position in NiSource in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,556,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 14.0% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 358,469 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,371,000 after acquiring an additional 43,947 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the first quarter valued at approximately $710,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NI shares. Zacks Research raised NiSource to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on NiSource from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Evercore ISI started coverage on NiSource in a report on Monday. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NiSource in a report on Wednesday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.44.

NiSource Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE:NI opened at $43.90 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $42.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.35, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.60. 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, Inc has a 1 year low of $33.65 and a 1 year high of $44.51.

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. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during 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 business posted $0.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 2.6%. 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.