Pathway Financial Advisers LLC Acquires 1,751 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 8.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 21,740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,751 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $753,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in NiSource by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,946,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,519,823,000 after buying an additional 991,336 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP increased its position in NiSource by 146.2% during the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $246,388,000 after buying an additional 5,290,322 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in NiSource by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,374,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $183,636,000 after buying an additional 44,598 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in NiSource by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,908,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $141,415,000 after buying an additional 67,697 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in NiSource by 68.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,342,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $96,407,000 after buying an additional 1,353,977 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho assumed coverage on NiSource in a report on Thursday, July 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays increased their target price on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on NiSource in a research note on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, NiSource presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.63.

NiSource Stock Performance

NYSE:NI opened at $35.13 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.95. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.58 and a twelve month high of $35.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.76 billion, a PE ratio of 21.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.06. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 14.76%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.265 per share. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. NiSource’s payout ratio is 65.03%.

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.