California Public Employees Retirement System Boosts Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,075,372 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 43,608 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.44% of NiSource worth $76,291,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in NiSource by 110.9% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 1,195 shares in the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 567,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,850,000 after acquiring an additional 16,364 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 21.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,712,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $99,720,000 after acquiring an additional 483,491 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in NiSource by 88.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at about $566,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at NiSource

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the company’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 value of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NiSource Price Performance

NI stock opened at $40.11 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $18.85 billion, a PE ratio of 24.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. 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 50-day moving average price of $38.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.94. NiSource Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.26 and a 12-month high of $41.45.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. NiSource’s payout ratio is 69.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $39.33.

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.