RBO & Co. LLC Has $8.63 Million Stock Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

RBO & Co. LLC lessened its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 324,848 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 14,308 shares during the quarter. RBO & Co. LLC owned 0.08% of NiSource worth $8,625,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Norges Bank acquired a new position in NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $70,090,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,525,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $226,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,826,202 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 303.4% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 814,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,637,000 after purchasing an additional 612,919 shares during the last quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd now owns 2,786,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,980,000 after purchasing an additional 568,980 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter worth $13,918,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other NiSource news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 3,742 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total value of $104,626.32. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,978 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $558,584.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 price target (up previously from $30.00) on shares of NiSource in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of NiSource from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of NiSource from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.71.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NI traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $28.78. 256,115 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,292,920. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The company’s 50 day moving average is $28.07 and its 200 day moving average is $26.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $22.86 and a one year high of $29.44.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. NiSource had a net margin of 14.23% and a return on equity of 9.56%. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be issued a $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 30th. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.28%.

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.