Mizuho Securities USA LLC Purchases 15,157 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 52.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 44,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,157 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $1,626,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 88.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in NiSource by 53.3% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,124,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $176,194,000 after buying an additional 1,782,078 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in NiSource by 5.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $786,249,000 after buying an additional 1,247,368 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in NiSource by 793.3% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 883,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,609,000 after buying an additional 784,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service bought a new stake in NiSource during the 4th quarter valued at $24,642,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.89.

NiSource Stock Down 0.5 %

NiSource stock opened at $39.63 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.76. 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 cap of $18.62 billion, a PE ratio of 24.46, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.26 and a fifty-two week high of $41.45.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued 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 return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. NiSource’s payout ratio is 69.14%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.