White Knight Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC Has $489,000 Stock Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

White Knight Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 97.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,290 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 6,545 shares during the quarter. White Knight Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in NiSource were worth $489,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 110.9% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 88.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter worth $585,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 50,667 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,863,000 after purchasing an additional 882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Inc. CA bought a new position in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter worth $34,612,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NiSource Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE NI traded up $0.51 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $39.01. 3,073,894 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,160,987. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.60 and a 1 year high of $41.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.08, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The business has a 50 day moving average of $39.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.14.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.85 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. NiSource's dividend payout ratio is 60.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was 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 directly owns 24,719 shares of the company's stock, valued at $944,760.18. This trade represents a 13.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Mizuho raised their target price on NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group raised their target price on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.50.

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.