T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Has $785.56 Million Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI - Free Report) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,370,032 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,965,334 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 4.58% of NiSource worth $785,563,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Securian Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 25,087 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $922,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. grew its holdings in NiSource by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 31,450 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,156,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its position in shares of NiSource by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 5,648 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank increased its position in shares of NiSource by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 48,716 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,788,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,408 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on NI. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays increased their target price on NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.11.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NI stock traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $39.46. 801,834 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,131,217. The company's 50 day moving average price is $39.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.58. The company has a market cap of $18.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.36, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.48. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.46 and a 12 month high of $41.45. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. NiSource's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.14%.

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.