GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases 853,107 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 4,674.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 871,356 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 853,107 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC owned 0.19% of NiSource worth $34,933,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,793,581 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,124,492,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459,452 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in NiSource by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 21,370,032 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $785,563,000 after purchasing an additional 1,965,334 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in NiSource by 88.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in NiSource by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,448,075 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $419,765,000 after purchasing an additional 700,747 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of NiSource by 185.0% during the fourth 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. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on NI shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target 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. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $41.50.

NiSource Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE:NI traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $39.27. 4,829,026 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,128,874. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.83 and a fifty-two week high of $41.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.54.

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

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. NiSource's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.54%.

Insider Transactions at NiSource

In other NiSource news, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.22, for a total transaction of $152,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,719 shares in the company, valued at approximately $944,760.18. The trade was a 13.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Melanie B. Berman sold 6,227 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total transaction of $245,468.34. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,138,528.44. This trade represents a 17.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 16,405 shares of company stock worth $631,939. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

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.