Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 483 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 139,166 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 483 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $5,116,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 88.4% in 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. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter worth $195,745,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,793,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,124,492,000 after buying an additional 2,459,452 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of NiSource by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $786,249,000 after buying an additional 1,247,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 793.3% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 883,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,609,000 after acquiring an additional 784,495 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $39.33.

NiSource Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE:NI opened at $40.40 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $18.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.26 and a twelve month high of $41.45. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.99.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business posted $0.53 EPS. Analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. NiSource’s payout ratio is currently 69.14%.

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.