Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Acquires 2,605,923 Shares of NiSource, Inc $NI

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs increased its holdings in NiSource by 88.9% in Q1, owning approximately 5.53 million shares valued at $221.9 million.
• Other investors, including Vanguard and T. Rowe Price, also increased their stakes in NiSource, with a combined 91.64% of the stock held by institutional investors.
• NiSource recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, expected to be paid on November 20th, with a yield of 2.7%.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 88.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,535,924 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 2,605,923 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 1.18% of NiSource worth $221,935,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in NiSource by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,844,001 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,439,236,000 after buying an additional 3,050,420 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,020,859 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $962,997,000 after purchasing an additional 2,650,827 shares during the period. Alkeon Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 1st quarter valued at about $98,682,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 1st quarter valued at about $71,839,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $464,155,000 after purchasing an additional 857,653 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NI. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $44.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of NiSource from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of NiSource to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of NiSource from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $48.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.88.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NiSource stock traded down $1.20 on Tuesday, reaching $39.34. 5,385,418 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,872,303. The firm's 50 day moving average is $41.57 and its 200-day moving average is $40.04. NiSource, Inc has a one year low of $33.32 and a one year high of $43.51. 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 firm has a market cap of $18.52 billion, a PE ratio of 20.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.60.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. NiSource had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 8.25%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.21 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. NiSource's dividend payout ratio is presently 59.57%.

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.