Principal Street Partners LLC Sells 413 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Principal Street Partners LLC lessened its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 4.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 413 shares during the quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $303,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of NI. MCF Advisors LLC bought a new position in NiSource during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of NiSource in the third quarter worth $33,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in NiSource in the second quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in NiSource during the second quarter worth about $47,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America started coverage on shares of NiSource in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on NiSource in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.50.

NiSource Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:NI opened at $38.23 on Wednesday. NiSource Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.80 and a 52-week high of $38.28. The company has a market capitalization of $17.84 billion, a PE ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.46. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.12 and a 200-day moving average of $32.01.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 14.63%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $986.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.19 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About NiSource

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.