SRS Capital Advisors Inc. Buys 4,083 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 2,474.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,248 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,083 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $156,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NI. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in NiSource by 5.3% in the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 29,576 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,025,000 after purchasing an additional 1,479 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 35,907 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,244,000 after buying an additional 2,926 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of NiSource by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource in the 3rd quarter worth about $303,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in NiSource by 269.7% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 132,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,598,000 after acquiring an additional 96,809 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NI stock opened at $39.70 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.51. The company has a market capitalization of $18.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $26.04 and a one year high of $41.44. The company’s 50-day moving average is $37.99 and its 200 day moving average is $36.09.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. This is a boost from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. NiSource’s payout ratio is currently 69.14%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, NiSource has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.13.

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.