ING Groep NV Purchases Shares of 21,584 NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

ING Groep NV acquired a new position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 21,584 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $748,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MCF Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of NiSource in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in NiSource during the second quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their price objective on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of NiSource in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of NiSource in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.50.

NiSource Price Performance

NI stock opened at $36.57 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $17.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.64. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.80 and a 1 year high of $36.74.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.05. NiSource had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 8.27%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $986.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.