Rhumbline Advisers Acquires 80,553 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 9.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 968,675 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 80,553 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.21% of NiSource worth $38,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 110.9% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in NiSource by 88.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $516,373,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991,608 shares during the period. Capital International Inc. CA acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at $34,612,000. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 53.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 4,382 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $161,000 after buying an additional 1,531 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of NiSource by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,075,372 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $76,291,000 after purchasing an additional 43,608 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at NiSource

In other NiSource news, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 6,178 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total value of $233,590.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,541 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $701,035.21. The trade was a 24.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Melanie B. Berman sold 6,227 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 28,882 shares of the company's stock, 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 sold a total of 16,405 shares of company stock worth $631,939 over the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho upped their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Barclays increased their price objective on NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on NiSource from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group upped their target price on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.50.

NiSource Stock Performance

NI traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $39.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,829,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,128,874. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.83 and a twelve month high of $41.45. The stock has a market cap of $18.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. Research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. 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 2.85%. NiSource's payout ratio is currently 60.54%.

NiSource 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.