NiSource (NYSE:NI) Price Target Raised to $36.00 at BMO Capital Markets

NiSource (NYSE:NI) had its price objective increased by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from $34.00 to $36.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 7.29% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on NI. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Mizuho assumed coverage on shares of NiSource in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.67.

NiSource Stock Up 0.1 %

NI stock opened at $33.56 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $31.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.10. The company has a market cap of $15.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.93, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.51. NiSource has a 12 month low of $22.86 and a 12 month high of $33.84.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.06. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 14.76%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.11 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that NiSource will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in NiSource by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,946,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,519,823,000 after buying an additional 991,336 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 146.2% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $246,388,000 after acquiring an additional 5,290,322 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in NiSource by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,525,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $226,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,826,202 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its stake in NiSource by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 7,272,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $193,083,000 after purchasing an additional 450,818 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in NiSource by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,374,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $183,636,000 after purchasing an additional 44,598 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Company 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.