BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Sells 28,681 Shares of NiSource, Inc $NI

Key Points

• BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S reduced its stake in NiSource, Inc by 57.2%, selling 28,681 shares and leaving it with 21,430 shares valued at approximately $859,000.
• Multiple institutional investors have increased their holdings in NiSource, with MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust boosting its position by 64.2% during Q1.
• Analysts have set new price targets for NiSource, with Guggenheim and Barclays raising their targets to $43.00 and $44.00 respectively, while the overall average target price stands at $42.56, indicating a "Moderate Buy" rating.

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lowered its position in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 57.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,430 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 28,681 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings in NiSource were worth $859,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NI. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in shares of NiSource by 185.0% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 9,244,744 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $339,837,000 after acquiring an additional 6,001,486 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of NiSource by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,844,001 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,439,236,000 after acquiring an additional 3,050,420 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource in the 1st quarter worth approximately $71,839,000. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,389,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of NiSource by 8.0% in the 1st 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. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Melanie B. Berman sold 6,227 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total value of $245,468.34. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 28,882 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,528.44. This trade represents a 17.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NI. Guggenheim increased their target price on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Zacks Research upgraded NiSource to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $44.00 price target (up previously from $42.00) on shares of NiSource in a research note on Monday, August 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded NiSource from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, NiSource has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.56.

NiSource Stock Down 0.6%

NI traded down $0.26 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $42.41. 4,133,365 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,467,979. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $41.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. NiSource, Inc has a 12-month low of $32.53 and a 12-month high of $43.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.53.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.21 EPS. Analysts predict that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

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 $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. NiSource's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.