California State Teachers Retirement System Sells 21,881 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

California State Teachers Retirement System decreased its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 535,310 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 21,881 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.11% of NiSource worth $19,678,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in NiSource during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in NiSource during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its position in NiSource by 105.0% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 1,281 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 656 shares during the period. Finally, Bellwether Advisors LLC bought a new position in NiSource during the fourth quarter worth $55,000. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NI. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of NiSource from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $41.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other news, EVP Melanie B. Berman sold 6,227 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total value of $245,468.34. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,528.44. This trade represents a 17.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 6,178 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total transaction of $233,590.18. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,541 shares in the company, valued at approximately $701,035.21. This trade represents a 24.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,405 shares of company stock valued at $631,939 over the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NiSource Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NI stock traded down $0.18 on Tuesday, hitting $39.41. The stock had a trading volume of 1,368,636 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,124,731. The business has a 50 day moving average of $39.02 and a 200 day moving average of $38.30. The stock has a market cap of $18.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.41. NiSource Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.83 and a 12-month high of $41.45.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. NiSource's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.54%.

NiSource Company 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.