Toronto Dominion Bank Has $9.42 Million Stock Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 29.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 256,294 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 58,471 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank owned 0.05% of NiSource worth $9,421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Optiver Holding B.V. grew its position in shares of NiSource by 105.0% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 1,281 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the period. Finally, Bellwether Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at $55,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NI stock traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $39.58. The company had a trading volume of 3,127,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,135,577. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.83 and a 12 month high of $41.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.43, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.53. The firm's fifty day moving average is $39.02 and its 200 day moving average is $38.30. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. NiSource's dividend payout ratio is 60.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.22, for a total value of $152,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,719 shares in the company, valued at $944,760.18. This represents a 13.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Melanie B. Berman sold 6,227 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total value of $245,468.34. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,138,528.44. This trade represents a 17.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 16,405 shares of company stock valued at $631,939. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.