Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 25,758 Shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI)

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in NiSource, Inc by 25.5%, selling 25,758 shares and holding 75,252 shares valued at $3,017,000.
• NiSource's stock price increased by 2.2%, closing at $42.20, with a market cap of $19.86 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, with a yield of 2.65%, which will be paid on August 20th.

Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 25.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 75,252 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 25,758 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in NiSource were worth $3,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Lincoln Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 1st quarter worth about $2,556,000. Capital International Inc. CA bought a new position in NiSource during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,612,000. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in NiSource by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,075,372 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $76,291,000 after acquiring an additional 43,608 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 358,469 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $14,371,000 after purchasing an additional 43,947 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 197,331 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,254,000 after purchasing an additional 6,688 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, NiSource presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.50.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NI stock traded up $0.14 on Friday, reaching $42.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,184,531 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,503,125. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $40.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.27. NiSource, Inc has a 1 year low of $30.53 and a 1 year high of $42.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The company has a market capitalization of $20.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.54.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.08. NiSource had a net margin of 14.67% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. NiSource's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Melanie B. Berman sold 6,227 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The shares were 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 owned 28,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,528.44. This trade represents a 17.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 6,178 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total transaction of $233,590.18. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,541 shares of the company's stock, valued at $701,035.21. This trade represents a 24.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 16,405 shares of company stock valued at $631,939 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

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.