NiSource (NYSE:NI) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NiSource (NYSE:NI) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

NI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on NiSource from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on NiSource in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of NiSource in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. HSBC assumed coverage on NiSource in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $49.50 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded NiSource from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.58.

NiSource Trading Up 0.8%

NiSource stock opened at $44.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $41.29 and a 200-day moving average of $44.84. The company has a market cap of $21.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.55. NiSource has a one year low of $38.42 and a one year high of $49.21.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.04. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.16% and a net margin of 13.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that NiSource will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 20th. Investors of record on Friday, October 30th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. NiSource’s payout ratio is currently 61.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NiSource news, EVP Melody Birmingham sold 37,509 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.40, for a total transaction of $1,590,381.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 78,527 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,329,544.80. The trade was a 32.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NiSource

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NI. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,613,234,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in NiSource during the 2nd quarter valued at $574,295,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in NiSource by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,381,989 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $208,364,000 after acquiring an additional 183,321 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource during the second quarter worth $179,838,000. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 154.7% during the first quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 3,680,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $171,718,000 after acquiring an additional 2,235,394 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Company Profile

NiSource Inc is a regulated energy holding company based in Merrillville, Indiana. Through its operating companies, the company provides natural gas distribution and electric utility services to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

NiSource’s natural gas operations include Columbia Gas utilities serving customers in several states, including Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Its electric utility, Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO), serves customers in northern Indiana and provides both electric power and natural gas services.

The company’s operations include energy delivery infrastructure, utility system maintenance, customer services and investments intended to support reliability and the transition of its generation portfolio.