Morton Community Bank Purchases 6,515 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Morton Community Bank lifted its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 6.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 112,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,515 shares during the quarter. Morton Community Bank’s holdings in NiSource were worth $3,233,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of NI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,946,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,519,823,000 after buying an additional 991,336 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 146.2% in the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $246,388,000 after purchasing an additional 5,290,322 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of NiSource by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,525,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $226,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,826,202 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its holdings in NiSource by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 7,272,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $193,083,000 after buying an additional 450,818 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in NiSource by 123.6% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,593,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $148,517,000 after buying an additional 3,092,138 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NI shares. Mizuho began coverage on shares of NiSource in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Barclays boosted their target price on NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.00.

NiSource Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE NI traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $33.20. The stock had a trading volume of 3,197,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,234,305. NiSource Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.86 and a 52-week high of $33.56. The firm has a market cap of $14.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $31.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.06. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 14.76%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.11 EPS. Analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.28%.

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.