Penserra Capital Management LLC Purchases 22,330 Shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI)

Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 1,890.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,511 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 22,330 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC's holdings in NiSource were worth $942,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in NiSource by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,793,581 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,124,492,000 after buying an additional 2,459,452 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in NiSource by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 21,370,032 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $785,563,000 after buying an additional 1,965,334 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in NiSource by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,448,075 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $419,765,000 after buying an additional 700,747 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in NiSource by 185.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 9,244,744 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $339,837,000 after buying an additional 6,001,486 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in NiSource by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,199,873 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $301,427,000 after buying an additional 2,714,262 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NI. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, NiSource has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.50.

NiSource Stock Performance

NYSE:NI traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $39.56. The company had a trading volume of 4,008,390 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,133,108. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. NiSource, Inc has a 52 week low of $29.67 and a 52 week high of $41.45. The firm has a market cap of $18.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.38, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.54. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $39.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.79.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. NiSource's payout ratio is 60.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.