Fmr LLC Raises Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Fmr LLC raised its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,396,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 99,882 shares during the period. Fmr LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $394,888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 3.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 10,823,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $375,020,000 after buying an additional 316,225 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in NiSource by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,374,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $183,636,000 after acquiring an additional 44,598 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in NiSource by 53.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,124,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $176,194,000 after purchasing an additional 1,782,078 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,908,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $141,415,000 after purchasing an additional 67,697 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of NiSource by 0.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,914,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $135,627,000 after purchasing an additional 19,008 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NI shares. Bank of America began coverage on NiSource in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of NiSource in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. One investment 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.50.

NiSource Price Performance

NiSource stock opened at $38.13 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $17.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.16. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.80 and a 1 year high of $38.56.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 14.63%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $986.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

About NiSource

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.