State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $4.89 Million Holdings in NiSource, Inc $NI

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its stake in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 14.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 121,094 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,012 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in NiSource were worth $4,885,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 5.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,844,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,439,236,000 after purchasing an additional 3,050,420 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in NiSource by 12.4% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,020,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $962,997,000 after acquiring an additional 2,650,827 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in NiSource by 8.0% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 11,577,832 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $464,155,000 after acquiring an additional 857,653 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in NiSource by 88.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,535,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $221,935,000 after acquiring an additional 2,605,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in NiSource by 4.7% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,638,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $185,976,000 after acquiring an additional 206,448 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $43.69 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $20.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $42.24 and its 200-day moving average is $40.77. NiSource, Inc has a one year low of $34.23 and a one year high of $44.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.25% and a net margin of 14.46%.During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.21 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NiSource in a report on Saturday. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on NiSource from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Zacks Research upgraded NiSource to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered NiSource from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $44.00 in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on NiSource from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, NiSource has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.78.

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.