Williamson Legacy Group LLC Takes Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Williamson Legacy Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 7,310 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $269,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of NI. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 5.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $786,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,368 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 88.4% during the third 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. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 0.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,396,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $394,888,000 after purchasing an additional 99,882 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 3.0% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 10,823,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $375,020,000 after purchasing an additional 316,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,747,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $371,139,000 after purchasing an additional 178,365 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $40.79 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $37.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.91. NiSource Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.71 and a 52 week high of $40.88. The stock has a market cap of $19.17 billion, a PE ratio of 25.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.54.

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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This is an increase from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. NiSource’s payout ratio is presently 69.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NiSource 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 transaction of $219,560.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on NI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, NiSource presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average 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.