Alps Advisors Inc. Has $5.15 Million Stock Position in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI)

Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 7.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 128,448 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 9,272 shares during the quarter. Alps Advisors Inc.'s holdings in NiSource were worth $5,149,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in NiSource by 185.0% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 9,244,744 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $339,837,000 after acquiring an additional 6,001,486 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors bought a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $219,977,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $195,745,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 49.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,199,873 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $301,427,000 after buying an additional 2,714,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,793,581 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,124,492,000 after buying an additional 2,459,452 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on NI shares. Barclays upped 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. Guggenheim increased their price objective on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Mizuho increased their target price on NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $41.50.

NiSource Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE NI traded down $0.08 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $39.87. The company had a trading volume of 3,801,268 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,128,612. The stock has a market cap of $18.77 billion, a PE ratio of 21.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. NiSource, Inc has a 12-month low of $29.67 and a 12-month high of $41.45. The business's 50-day moving average is $39.36 and its 200 day moving average is $38.82.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.08. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 14.67%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. NiSource's payout ratio is presently 60.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other news, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 6,178 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total transaction of $233,590.18. Following the sale, the director owned 18,541 shares in the company, valued at $701,035.21. This trade represents a 24.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Melanie B. Berman sold 6,227 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total value of $245,468.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 28,882 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,528.44. This trade represents a 17.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,405 shares of company stock valued at $631,939 over the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.