FCG Investment Co Acquires 2,028 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

FCG Investment Co lifted its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 12.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,028 shares during the period. FCG Investment Co’s holdings in NiSource were worth $515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in NiSource during the third quarter valued at $207,000. LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in NiSource by 54.0% during the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 201,128 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,964,000 after purchasing an additional 70,487 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in NiSource by 24.6% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 206,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,089,000 after purchasing an additional 40,685 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in NiSource by 0.5% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 181,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,482,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 43.1% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 296,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,324,000 after buying an additional 89,388 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NI. Evercore ISI raised their price target on NiSource from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on NiSource from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price target on shares of NiSource in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NiSource currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.20.

Insider Transactions at NiSource

In other NiSource news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 3,742 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total transaction of $104,626.32. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,978 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $558,584.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Trading Up 0.2 %

NI traded up $0.07 during trading on Thursday, hitting $28.64. 2,031,746 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,086,161. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.22. The firm has a market cap of $12.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.50. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.86 and a 1 year high of $29.44.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.56% and a net margin of 14.23%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.77 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be issued a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.28%.

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.