Insider Selling: NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) CAO Sells 5,500 Shares of Stock

NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $988,339.36. This trade represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

NiSource Stock Performance

NI opened at $39.86 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $18.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.54. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.47. NiSource Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.45 and a 1-year high of $39.99.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 14.63%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is 67.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NiSource

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NI. ING Groep NV purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter worth $748,000. Thomasville National Bank lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 567,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,850,000 after purchasing an additional 16,364 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 21.7% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,712,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $99,720,000 after purchasing an additional 483,491 shares during the period. Finally, Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter worth $3,068,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on NI shares. Mizuho increased their target price on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on NiSource in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NiSource currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.13.

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.