Michael E. Jesanis Sells 4,000 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Stock

NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.22, for a total value of $152,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,719 shares in the company, valued at $944,760.18. This represents a 13.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

NiSource Stock Performance

NYSE NI opened at $39.09 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $39.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.01. The company has a market capitalization of $18.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.13, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.53. NiSource Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.60 and a 1-year high of $41.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.08. NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.54%.

Institutional Trading of NiSource

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 110.9% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 21.7% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,712,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $99,720,000 after purchasing an additional 483,491 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of NiSource by 88.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at $566,000. Finally, Annex Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in NiSource during the fourth quarter worth about $585,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho lifted their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.50.

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.