NiSource, Inc $NI Shares Sold by Wellington Management Group LLP

Key Points

• Wellington Management Group LLP has reduced its stake in NiSource, Inc by 4.3% to approximately 4.4 million shares, worth about $176.7 million.
• Analyst ratings for NiSource show a consensus of "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $42.56, indicating positive sentiment among eight analysts.
• NiSource has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.28, which will be distributed to shareholders on November 20th, offering a yield of 2.6%.

Wellington Management Group LLP decreased its holdings in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 4.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,407,459 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 199,565 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned approximately 0.94% of NiSource worth $176,695,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of NI. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in NiSource by 185.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 9,244,744 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $339,837,000 after purchasing an additional 6,001,486 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,844,001 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,439,236,000 after purchasing an additional 3,050,420 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 10.1% during 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 period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource during the 1st quarter valued at $71,839,000. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource during the 4th quarter worth $47,389,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research upgraded NiSource to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NiSource from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $44.00 price objective (up from $42.00) on shares of NiSource in a research note on Monday, August 4th. 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 research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other news, EVP Melanie B. Berman sold 6,227 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total transaction of $245,468.34. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 28,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,138,528.44. The trade was a 17.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NiSource Stock Up 1.4%

NYSE:NI traded up $0.6050 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $42.8950. The stock had a trading volume of 3,793,711 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,984,127. The company has a market cap of $20.20 billion, a PE ratio of 22.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.83. NiSource, Inc has a 1-year low of $32.51 and a 1-year high of $43.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

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

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. NiSource's dividend payout ratio is presently 59.57%.

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.