Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC cut its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 26.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,552,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 918,756 shares during the period. NiSource comprises approximately 1.5% of Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $93,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NI. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in NiSource by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 184,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,787,000 after acquiring an additional 12,972 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 1,701.3% during the fourth quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 117,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,303,000 after buying an additional 110,550 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ bought a new stake in shares of NiSource during the fourth quarter worth $3,785,000. Vestcor Inc grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 16,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 159,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,868,000 after purchasing an additional 11,760 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $39.08 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market cap of $18.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.12, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.34. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $26.04 and a 12 month high of $41.44.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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 research report on Thursday, February 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, NiSource has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target 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.