D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Sells 65,291 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. cut its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 89.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,612 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 65,291 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.'s holdings in NiSource were worth $280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NI. DC Investments Management LLC boosted its position in NiSource by 55.2% in the fourth quarter. DC Investments Management LLC now owns 57,137 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,100,000 after purchasing an additional 20,328 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in NiSource by 72.3% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 302,324 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $11,113,000 after purchasing an additional 126,911 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in NiSource by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,433 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $531,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. BOKF NA increased its position in NiSource by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. BOKF NA now owns 190,552 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,866,000 after buying an additional 19,064 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 21.5% in the fourth quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,625 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $354,000 after buying an additional 1,705 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NiSource stock traded up $0.50 on Friday, hitting $39.49. 6,150,858 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,154,231. NiSource Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.79 and a 12-month high of $41.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $18.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.53. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $39.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.23.

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

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. NiSource's dividend payout ratio is 60.54%.

Insider Transactions at NiSource

In related news, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 6,178 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total value of $233,590.18. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,541 shares of the company's stock, valued at $701,035.21. This trade represents a 24.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Mizuho lifted their target price on NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $41.50.

About NiSource

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.