NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Stock Position Lessened by Ascent Group LLC

Ascent Group LLC decreased its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 56,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,645 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $1,966,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 0.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,396,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $394,888,000 after purchasing an additional 99,882 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 316,225 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 0.7% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,374,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $183,636,000 after purchasing an additional 44,598 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 53.3% in the third 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. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 1.4% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,908,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $141,415,000 after buying an additional 67,697 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on NI. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays upped their price objective on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on NiSource in a report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

NiSource Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $37.35 on Tuesday. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.80 and a 12 month high of $38.56. The company has a market cap of $17.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.27.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.05. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 14.63%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $986.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. NiSource’s 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 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.