Eastern Bank Buys 2,000 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Eastern Bank raised its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 1,242.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Eastern Bank’s holdings in NiSource were worth $79,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NI. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 2.1% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $531,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in NiSource by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in NiSource by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,457 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $363,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 13,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $483,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of NiSource by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 27,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $937,000 after buying an additional 432 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on NI shares. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on NiSource in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price objective for the company. Barclays increased their target price on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NI opened at $36.75 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.03. NiSource Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.80 and a 52-week high of $38.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.15 billion, a PE ratio of 22.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.54.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $986.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.