Franklin Resources Inc. Purchases 14,397 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,646,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,397 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 1.42% of NiSource worth $244,316,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NI. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 30,322 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,115,000 after acquiring an additional 7,297 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC acquired a new stake in NiSource in the 4th quarter worth $225,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in NiSource by 28.0% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 724,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,638,000 after purchasing an additional 158,675 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of NiSource by 67.7% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 45,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,674,000 after buying an additional 18,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of NiSource by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,075,372 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $76,291,000 after buying an additional 43,608 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NI shares. Mizuho boosted their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target 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. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.33.

NiSource Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:NI opened at $40.40 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $39.00 and its 200-day moving average is $36.99. 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 52 week low of $26.26 and a 52 week high of $41.45. The company has a market capitalization of $18.99 billion, a PE ratio of 24.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.