Silver Oak Securities Incorporated Takes $345,000 Position in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI)

Silver Oak Securities Incorporated acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,635 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $345,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in NI. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan acquired a new position in NiSource in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised 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 worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC raised its position in NiSource by 44.7% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its position in NiSource by 105.0% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 1,281 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bellwether Advisors LLC bought a new stake in NiSource during the fourth quarter worth about $55,000. 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 NiSource 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 28,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,138,528.44. This trade represents a 17.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 6,178 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total transaction of $233,590.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,541 shares of the company's stock, 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 ninety days, insiders sold 16,405 shares of company stock valued at $631,939. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

NiSource Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:NI traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $39.62. 3,148,399 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,125,226. NiSource, Inc has a fifty-two week low of $28.42 and a fifty-two week high of $41.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.72. The firm has a market cap of $18.65 billion, a PE ratio of 21.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.54.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last released 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. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 14.67% and a return on equity of 8.41%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. NiSource's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.54%.

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.