Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 121,187 Shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 5.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,213,552 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 121,187 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.47% of NiSource worth $88,741,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NI. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 0.8% during the first quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 40,361 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,618,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in NiSource by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,448 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $299,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in NiSource in the 1st quarter worth about $2,734,000. Rossby Financial LCC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 1st quarter valued at about $69,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in NiSource by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 55,607 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,229,000 after purchasing an additional 1,339 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Melanie B. Berman sold 6,227 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 6,178 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total value of $233,590.18. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,541 shares in the company, valued at approximately $701,035.21. This trade represents a 24.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 16,405 shares of company stock valued at $631,939. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NI stock traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $39.52. The company had a trading volume of 1,538,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,569,532. NiSource, Inc has a 12 month low of $28.42 and a 12 month high of $41.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.36, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.54. The firm's fifty day moving average is $39.36 and its 200 day moving average is $38.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.52.

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, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. NiSource's dividend payout ratio is currently 60.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on NI. Guggenheim upped their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their price target on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays raised their target price on NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, NiSource currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $41.50.

About NiSource

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.