Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Takes $158,000 Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 5,948 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $158,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Achmea Investment Management B.V. acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the first quarter valued at $33,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Ancora Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Money Concepts Capital Corp acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 41.4% in the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NI traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $27.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,768,682 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,404,475. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.86 and a fifty-two week high of $28.95. The company has a market capitalization of $12.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.49. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.17.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 10.10%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.84%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is 72.11%.

Insider Activity at NiSource

In related news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 11,141 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total value of $297,019.06. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,720 shares in the company, valued at $632,375.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on NI shares. StockNews.com upgraded NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th. Barclays increased their price objective on NiSource from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd.

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.