First Manhattan CO. LLC. Has $6.24 Million Stock Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. decreased its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 5.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 167,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,399 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $6,241,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 153.2% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in NiSource during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 105.0% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 1,281 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of NiSource from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, NiSource has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $41.50.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $39.51 on Friday. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.60 and a 1 year high of $41.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.53. The company’s 50-day moving average is $39.11 and its 200 day moving average is $37.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is 69.14%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.