Atom Investors LP Makes New $2.68 Million Investment in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Atom Investors LP acquired a new stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 77,190 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,675,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MCF Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of NiSource during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in NiSource during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in NiSource during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in NiSource in the second quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in shares of NiSource during the second quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NI. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on NiSource in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.50.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $37.35 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.43 billion, a PE ratio of 22.64, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $35.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.27. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.80 and a twelve month high of $38.56.

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