Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Trims Stake in NiSource, Inc $NI

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lessened its holdings in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,037,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 58,736 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $43,307,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NI. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in NiSource by 55,625.2% in the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 16,866,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $680,411,000 after purchasing an additional 16,836,630 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in NiSource by 2,288.8% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,166,313 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $137,101,000 after purchasing an additional 3,033,764 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd purchased a new stake in NiSource in the third quarter worth about $84,086,000. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in NiSource by 52.0% in the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 4,434,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $178,877,000 after purchasing an additional 1,516,296 shares during the period. Finally, Reaves W H & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in NiSource by 34.6% in the third quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 5,009,644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $216,918,000 after purchasing an additional 1,287,745 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on NI shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $50.00 price objective on shares of NiSource in a report on Thursday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.64.

NiSource Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:NI opened at $47.36 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $46.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.12. NiSource, Inc has a 52 week low of $37.22 and a 52 week high of $48.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The stock has a market cap of $22.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.29, a PEG ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.61.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 8.07%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.49 earnings per share. NiSource has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.020-2.070 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is 61.54%.

NiSource Company Profile

NiSource, Inc (NYSE: NI) is a publicly traded energy holding company headquartered in Merrillville, Indiana, that primarily owns and operates regulated local gas and electric utilities in the United States. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company delivers natural gas and electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers and provides the associated distribution and transmission services that keep local energy systems functioning.

The company’s core activities include natural gas distribution, electric transmission and distribution, system operations, maintenance and emergency response.