V Square Quantitative Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 9.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 670 shares during the quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NI. TCW Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 792,187 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,033,000 after acquiring an additional 57,498 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 7.1% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 438,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,144,000 after acquiring an additional 29,055 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 12.6% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 515,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,265,000 after acquiring an additional 57,658 shares during the period. HF Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter worth about $1,559,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 26.0% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 796,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $22,036,000 after acquiring an additional 164,532 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at NiSource

In other news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 3,742 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The stock was 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 owns 19,978 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $558,584.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE NI traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $31.94. 1,610,657 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,225,914. 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 has a market cap of $14.32 billion, a PE ratio of 20.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.50. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.08. NiSource Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.86 and a 52 week high of $32.38.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.56% and a net margin of 14.23%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.11 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a $0.265 dividend. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. NiSource’s payout ratio is 69.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on NI. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Mizuho began coverage on NiSource in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price objective for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on NiSource from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.00.

NiSource 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.