ProShare Advisors LLC Sells 18,682 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

ProShare Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 15.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 105,658 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 18,682 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in NiSource were worth $3,884,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in NiSource by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,793,581 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,124,492,000 after buying an additional 2,459,452 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in NiSource by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 21,370,032 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $785,563,000 after buying an additional 1,965,334 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in NiSource by 88.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $516,373,000 after buying an additional 6,991,608 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in NiSource by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,448,075 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $419,765,000 after buying an additional 700,747 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its position in NiSource by 185.0% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 9,244,744 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $339,837,000 after buying an additional 6,001,486 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NiSource Stock Performance

NYSE:NI traded up $0.51 during trading on Friday, reaching $39.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,073,894 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,162,775. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $39.07 and a 200-day moving average of $38.18. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.60 and a 12 month high of $41.45. The firm has a market cap of $18.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.08. NiSource had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. NiSource's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NiSource news, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 6,178 shares of the firm'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 now directly owns 18,541 shares of the company's stock, valued at $701,035.21. This trade represents a 24.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NI shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on NiSource from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays increased their price target on NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target 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 upped their price objective on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price objective on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock 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.