Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 16,700 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 4.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 405,381 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 16,700 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned 0.09% of NiSource worth $16,252,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 13,987 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $514,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in NiSource by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 25,087 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $922,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the period. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,303 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 64.2% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 765 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviso Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 31,450 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,156,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Melanie B. Berman sold 6,227 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total transaction of $245,468.34. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,882 shares of the company's stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.22, for a total value of $152,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,719 shares in the company, valued at $944,760.18. This trade represents a 13.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 16,405 shares of company stock worth $631,939. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on NI shares. Guggenheim raised their price objective on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on NiSource from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, NiSource has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $41.50.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NI stock traded down $0.44 during trading on Friday, hitting $39.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,638,532 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,136,317. The company has a market cap of $18.58 billion, a PE ratio of 24.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.54. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $39.07 and a 200-day moving average of $38.41. NiSource Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.83 and a 52 week high of $41.45.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.08. NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. 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.