Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 56,566 Shares of NiSource, Inc $NI

Meritage Portfolio Management trimmed its position in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 84.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,491 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 56,566 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in NiSource were worth $423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NI. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in NiSource by 305.0% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 13,542 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $547,000 after buying an additional 10,198 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in NiSource by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $871,000 after buying an additional 3,486 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in NiSource by 27.6% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 50,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,006,000 after buying an additional 10,830 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new position in NiSource in the 1st quarter valued at $217,000. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in NiSource in the 1st quarter valued at $202,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of NiSource in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered NiSource from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Evercore ISI began coverage on NiSource in a research report on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on NiSource from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NiSource in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.44.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $42.69 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.10 billion, a PE ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.60. NiSource, Inc has a 12 month low of $33.86 and a 12 month high of $44.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.45.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion for 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 last year, the business posted $0.21 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

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

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.