HF Advisory Group LLC Buys New Shares in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

HF Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 58,712 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,559,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in NiSource in the 4th quarter worth $1,049,000. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in NiSource by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 14,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 777 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in NiSource by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 803,652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,337,000 after purchasing an additional 128,497 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in NiSource by 54.0% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 201,128 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,964,000 after purchasing an additional 70,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westover Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NiSource in the 3rd quarter worth $2,053,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on NI. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of NiSource from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd.

Insider Activity at NiSource

In related news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 11,141 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total transaction of $297,019.06. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $632,375.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NiSource stock traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $27.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 252,469 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,192,709. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $26.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.13. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $22.86 and a one year high of $28.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $12.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.49.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 12.98%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.265 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. NiSource’s payout ratio is 72.11%.

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.