Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. Grows Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 76.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,757 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,742 shares during the period. NiSource makes up 0.7% of Virtus Investment Advisers Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc.'s holdings in NiSource were worth $910,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NI. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in NiSource by 25.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,352,182 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $46,852,000 after acquiring an additional 273,159 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in NiSource by 88.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $516,373,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991,608 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in NiSource by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 32,293 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in NiSource by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 208,877 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,678,000 after acquiring an additional 3,306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in NiSource in the fourth quarter worth approximately $230,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on NI shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, NiSource has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $41.50.

NiSource Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NI stock traded down $0.38 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $38.48. 4,136,208 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,161,271. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $39.09 and a 200 day moving average of $38.08. The firm has a market cap of $18.11 billion, a PE ratio of 23.75, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.53. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.60 and a 1 year high of $41.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

NiSource (NYSE:NI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. Analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. NiSource's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other NiSource news, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company's stock, valued at $944,760.18. This trade represents a 13.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.