Proficio Capital Partners LLC Buys Shares of 171,816 NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 171,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,316,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its position in shares of NiSource by 153.2% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in NiSource in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

NiSource Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE:NI opened at $41.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.04. NiSource Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.98 and a 52-week high of $41.30. The company has a market cap of $19.38 billion, a PE ratio of 25.46, 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 (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. NiSource’s payout ratio is 69.14%.

Insider Transactions at NiSource

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the company’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 transaction of $219,560.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company 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.