Consolidated Planning Corp Increases Stock Position in NiSource, Inc $NI

Consolidated Planning Corp lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 4.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 106,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,345 shares during the period. Consolidated Planning Corp’s holdings in NiSource were worth $4,297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in shares of NiSource by 64.2% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of NiSource by 48.8% during the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in shares of NiSource by 57.3% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 499 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management grew its position in shares of NiSource by 39.4% during the first quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 1,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rossby Financial LCC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the first quarter worth approximately $69,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of NiSource to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of NiSource from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.38.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $43.08 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.91, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.60. NiSource, Inc has a one year low of $33.65 and a one year high of $43.71. The company’s fifty day moving average is $41.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.23. 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 8.25%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.21 EPS. Analysts forecast that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

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