Meritage Portfolio Management Sells 56,566 Shares of NiSource, Inc $NI

Key Points

• Meritage Portfolio Management reduced its stake in NiSource, Inc by 84.4%, selling 56,566 shares and ending with 10,491 shares valued at $423,000.
• Vanguard Group and T. Rowe Price increased their holdings in NiSource by 5.3% and 12.4%, respectively, indicating strong institutional interest in the company.
• NiSource recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, with an annualized yield of 2.6%, payable on November 20th.

Meritage Portfolio Management decreased its holdings in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 84.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,491 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 56,566 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management's holdings in NiSource were worth $423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in NiSource by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,844,001 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,439,236,000 after acquiring an additional 3,050,420 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 2,650,827 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in NiSource by 88.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,535,924 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $221,935,000 after acquiring an additional 2,605,923 shares in the last quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in NiSource in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $98,682,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in NiSource in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $71,839,000. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on NiSource from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen cut NiSource from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Evercore ISI began coverage on NiSource in a report on Monday, October 6th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $45.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut NiSource from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $44.00 in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Zacks Research raised NiSource to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $44.44.

NiSource Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of NI opened at $42.69 on Tuesday. NiSource, Inc has a 1 year low of $33.86 and a 1 year high of $44.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.45. The stock has a market cap of $20.10 billion, a PE ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.60.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.25% and a net margin of 14.46%.The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.21 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. NiSource's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.

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