NiSource (NYSE:NI) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.05 EPS

NiSource (NYSE:NI) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $986.00 million. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 14.63%. NiSource’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NI traded down $0.67 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $34.49. 3,137,095 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,035,585. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market cap of $15.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.90, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $34.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.03. NiSource has a one year low of $24.58 and a one year high of $35.48.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.265 per share. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

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.