Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Buys 7,439 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 18.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 47,260 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,439 shares during the quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in NiSource were worth $1,737,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in NiSource by 153.2% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at $66,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

NiSource Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $39.88 on Friday. NiSource Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.26 and a 12-month high of $41.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $18.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 last year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. NiSource’s payout ratio is presently 69.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total value of $219,560.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.