Sei Investments Co. Reduces Stock Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Sei Investments Co. trimmed its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 13.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 740,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 111,927 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $27,227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NI. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in shares of NiSource by 153.2% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in NiSource during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource during the 4th quarter worth about $66,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

NiSource Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $39.63 on Wednesday. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.26 and a 1 year high of $41.45. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.76. The firm has a market cap of $18.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.46, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS 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 company earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. NiSource’s payout ratio is currently 69.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on NI. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of 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 upped their target price on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.89.

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.