NiSource, Inc $NI Shares Purchased by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management S.A. significantly increased its position in NiSource, Inc., boosting its holdings by 142.9% during Q2, resulting in ownership of 1,609,374 shares worth approximately $64.92 million.
• NiSource recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 2.8%, with the ex-dividend date set for October 31st.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for NiSource, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target price of $43.88, while recent reports included a downgrade from Jefferies Financial Group.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 142.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,609,374 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 946,870 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.34% of NiSource worth $64,922,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NI. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 29.9% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 234,234 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,390,000 after buying an additional 53,972 shares during the period. Lincoln Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of NiSource during the 1st quarter worth $2,556,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in NiSource by 90.7% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 80,394 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,223,000 after acquiring an additional 38,237 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in NiSource by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 358,469 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $14,371,000 after buying an additional 43,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,605,923 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on NI shares. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $44.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group cut NiSource from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Wall Street Zen cut NiSource from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Zacks Research raised NiSource to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.88.

NiSource Stock Up 0.6%

NYSE NI traded up $0.23 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $41.53. 2,053,276 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,500,679. NiSource, Inc has a 1 year low of $33.65 and a 1 year high of $43.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $19.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.07.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.01. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.25% and a net margin of 14.46%.The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.21 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. NiSource's payout ratio is currently 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.