Hennessy Advisors Inc. Buys 27,500 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 422,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 27,500 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $15,516,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in NiSource during the 2nd quarter valued at $213,000. Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in NiSource during the second quarter valued at $204,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in NiSource during the second quarter valued at $286,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in NiSource by 5.1% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 754,655 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,742,000 after acquiring an additional 36,466 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in NiSource by 4,581.6% in the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 9,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 9,209 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Up 3.2 %

NI opened at $38.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $17.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.54. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $36.77 and its 200 day moving average is $34.13. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.80 and a fifty-two week high of $38.56.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $986.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on NiSource in a report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

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.