Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Buys 7,778 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 31.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 32,673 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,778 shares during the quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $1,201,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position 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 valued at $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NiSource during the fourth quarter worth about $195,745,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in NiSource by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,793,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,124,492,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,452 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $786,249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 793.3% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 883,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,609,000 after acquiring an additional 784,495 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NiSource Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $40.72 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.51. NiSource Inc. has a 52-week low of $26.26 and a 52-week high of $41.45. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $39.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.48.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on NI shares. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.33.

Insider Transactions at NiSource

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. This trade represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource 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.