Hanson & Doremus Investment Management Sells 310 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Hanson & Doremus Investment Management trimmed its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 116,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 310 shares during the period. NiSource comprises 0.7% of Hanson & Doremus Investment Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management’s holdings in NiSource were worth $4,290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of NI. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 2.1% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $531,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in NiSource by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of NiSource by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,457 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $363,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 3.2% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 13,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 428 shares during the period. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 1.6% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 27,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $937,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective 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. 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. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NiSource currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.50.

NiSource Trading Up 0.8 %

NiSource stock opened at $36.70 on Thursday. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.80 and a 12 month high of $38.83. The company has a market capitalization of $17.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.54. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $986.00 million. NiSource had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 8.27%. NiSource’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is 64.24%.

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.