Petrus Trust Company LTA Purchases New Shares in NiSource, Inc $NI

Key Points

• Petrus Trust Company LTA has acquired 7,314 shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI), valued at approximately $293,000 in the first quarter.
• NiSource reported earnings of $0.22 per share for the latest quarter, exceeding estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, scheduled for payment on November 20th.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed ratings on NiSource, with an average price target of $43.11, indicating a sentiment of "Moderate Buy" among eight out of ten analysts.

Petrus Trust Company LTA purchased a new position in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,314 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $293,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 48.8% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 811 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 3.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Capital Analysts LLC boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 50,416 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,021,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,303 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in NiSource by 64.2% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 765 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of NiSource from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their target price for the company from $48.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $44.00 target price (up previously from $42.00) on shares of NiSource in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of NiSource to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of NiSource from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $43.88.

NiSource Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE NI traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $41.00. 2,379,899 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,471,936. NiSource, Inc has a one year low of $33.32 and a one year high of $43.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $19.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.04.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 8.25%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.21 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. NiSource's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.57%.

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.