California State Teachers Retirement System Boosts Stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 3.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 598,359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 20,060 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.13% of NiSource worth $16,551,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NI. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in NiSource during the 1st quarter worth about $487,000. BOKF NA lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 104.7% in the 1st quarter. BOKF NA now owns 179,472 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,932,000 after purchasing an additional 91,778 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in NiSource during the first quarter worth $3,577,000. DC Investments Management LLC purchased a new position in NiSource in the first quarter valued at $1,018,000. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. raised its position in shares of NiSource by 43.0% in the first quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 75,662 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,093,000 after acquiring an additional 22,742 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho started coverage on NiSource in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI increased their target price on NiSource from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of NiSource from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, NiSource presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.50.

Insider Activity at NiSource

In related news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 3,742 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total transaction of $104,626.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 19,978 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $558,584.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

NiSource Stock Performance

NI opened at $32.18 on Friday. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.86 and a twelve month high of $32.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.43 billion, a PE ratio of 20.75, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $29.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.75.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.56% and a net margin of 14.23%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.