Amalgamated Bank Acquires 2,378 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Amalgamated Bank boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,378 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in NiSource were worth $3,327,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NI. ING Groep NV bought a new position in NiSource during the 3rd quarter valued at $748,000. Thomasville National Bank lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 567,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,850,000 after purchasing an additional 16,364 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position 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. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in NiSource by 21.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,712,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $99,720,000 after purchasing an additional 483,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moran Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in NiSource in the 3rd quarter worth about $3,068,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, NiSource has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.13.

NiSource Stock Performance

NYSE:NI opened at $40.79 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.84 and its 200 day moving average is $35.94. The firm has a market cap of $19.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.18, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.54. 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 $25.71 and a 52-week high of $40.88.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is 69.14%.

Insider Activity at NiSource

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.