Voya Investment Management LLC Sells 38,480 Shares of NiSource, Inc $NI

Key Points

• Voya Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in NiSource, Inc by 3.7%, now owning approximately 990,916 shares valued at about $39.7 million.
• NiSource has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, with an annualized yield of 2.7%, payable to investors on November 20th.
• Several analysts have downgraded NiSource, impacting its stock ratings, with seven analysts rating it as a Buy and two as Hold, while the average target price is $43.88.

Voya Investment Management LLC cut its stake in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 3.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 990,916 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 38,480 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.21% of NiSource worth $39,726,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,844,001 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,439,236,000 after purchasing an additional 3,050,420 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,020,859 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $962,997,000 after acquiring an additional 2,650,827 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 11,577,832 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $464,155,000 after acquiring an additional 857,653 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 88.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,535,924 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $221,935,000 after acquiring an additional 2,605,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,821,510 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $177,239,000 after acquiring an additional 239,897 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company's stock.

NiSource Trading Down 1.1%

NiSource stock traded down $0.44 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $40.58. 4,361,228 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,794,065. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.05. NiSource, Inc has a 52 week low of $33.32 and a 52 week high of $43.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.10 billion, a PE ratio of 21.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

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

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. NiSource's dividend payout ratio is 59.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NI. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of NiSource from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $44.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of NiSource in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of NiSource from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $48.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of NiSource to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $43.88.

NiSource 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.