Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Purchases 99,033 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 40.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 344,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 99,033 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned about 0.07% of NiSource worth $12,665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in NiSource by 110.9% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 1,195 shares in the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 567,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,850,000 after acquiring an additional 16,364 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 21.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,712,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $99,720,000 after purchasing an additional 483,491 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of NiSource by 88.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC raised its stake in NiSource by 1.4% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 2,471,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $85,633,000 after purchasing an additional 34,093 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at NiSource

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Price Performance

NI opened at $39.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.85. The firm has a market cap of $18.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.62, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.26 and a 1 year high of $41.45.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS 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 previous year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group increased their target price on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $39.33.

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.