BROOKFIELD Corp ON Trims Stock Holdings in NiSource, Inc $NI

Key Points

• BROOKFIELD Corp ON reduced its stake in NiSource, Inc by 26.5%, now holding approximately 1.8 million shares, which represents about 0.4% of its portfolio with a value of around $74 million.
• In Q1, several institutional investors increased their positions in NiSource, with MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increasing its stake by 64.2%.
• NiSource recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, with the payment date set for November 20th, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 2.7%.

BROOKFIELD Corp ON cut its holdings in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 26.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,847,407 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 666,956 shares during the quarter. NiSource makes up approximately 0.4% of BROOKFIELD Corp ON's holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. BROOKFIELD Corp ON owned about 0.39% of NiSource worth $74,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 64.2% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 765 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 48.8% during the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 811 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 44.7% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 57.3% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,370 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 39.4% during the first quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 1,551 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

NiSource Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NI stock traded down $0.44 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $40.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,361,228 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,471,305. NiSource, Inc has a 52-week low of $33.32 and a 52-week high of $43.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $41.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.05. 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 $19.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.58, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.60.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.21 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. NiSource's dividend payout ratio 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.