Deutsche Bank AG Reduces Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Deutsche Bank AG reduced its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,829,452 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 657,993 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG owned about 3.61% of NiSource worth $618,651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,793,581 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,124,492,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459,452 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in NiSource by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 21,370,032 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $785,563,000 after purchasing an additional 1,965,334 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in NiSource by 88.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $516,373,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991,608 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in NiSource by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,448,075 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $419,765,000 after buying an additional 700,747 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in NiSource by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,199,873 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $301,427,000 after purchasing an additional 2,714,262 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NI traded down $1.33 on Monday, hitting $38.25. The company had a trading volume of 4,768,318 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,167,290. NiSource Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.60 and a 1-year high of $41.45. The stock has a market cap of $18.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $39.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. Analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. NiSource's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.14%.

Insider Activity at NiSource

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total value of $219,560.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their price target on NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of NiSource from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $41.50.

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.