ING Groep NV Invests $748,000 in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 21,584 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $748,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of NI. Zimmer Partners LP grew its position in shares of NiSource by 146.2% in the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $246,388,000 after buying an additional 5,290,322 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in NiSource by 68.1% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,342,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $96,407,000 after acquiring an additional 1,353,977 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL bought a new stake in NiSource in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,419,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 991,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 118.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,616,189 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,449,000 after purchasing an additional 876,033 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NI shares. Bank of America began coverage on shares of NiSource in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Mizuho boosted their price target on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.50.

NiSource Stock Performance

NYSE NI opened at $36.57 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $17.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.16, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. NiSource Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.80 and a 12-month high of $36.74.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.05. NiSource had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 8.27%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $986.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.