MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. Buys 38,237 Shares of NiSource, Inc $NI

Key Points

• MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in NiSource, Inc by 90.7% in Q1, acquiring an additional 38,237 shares, bringing its total holdings to valued at $3.22 million.
• Institutional ownership in NiSource is high, with 91.64% of the stock owned by institutional investors and hedge funds following several large investors raising their positions, including Vanguard and T. Rowe Price.
• NiSource recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, representing a yield of 2.7%, with the payout set for November 20th to shareholders on record by October 31st.

MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 90.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 80,394 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 38,237 shares during the quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.'s holdings in NiSource were worth $3,223,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 5.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,844,001 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,439,236,000 after purchasing an additional 3,050,420 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 12.4% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,020,859 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $962,997,000 after purchasing an additional 2,650,827 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in NiSource by 8.0% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 11,577,832 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $464,155,000 after buying an additional 857,653 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in NiSource by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,821,510 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $177,239,000 after buying an additional 239,897 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in NiSource by 4.7% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,638,973 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $185,976,000 after purchasing an additional 206,448 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company's stock.

NiSource Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE NI traded down $0.44 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $40.58. 4,361,228 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,794,065. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. NiSource, Inc has a 1-year low of $33.32 and a 1-year high of $43.51. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.05. The firm has a market cap of $19.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.58, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.60.

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

NiSource Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on NI shares. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $44.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of NiSource in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Zacks Research raised NiSource to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded NiSource from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $43.88.

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.