Hudson Bay Capital Management LP Has $48.18 Million Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Hudson Bay Capital Management LP cut its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,310,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 119,257 shares during the quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP’s holdings in NiSource were worth $48,182,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NI. Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its position in NiSource by 124.5% during the fourth quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 52,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,945,000 after buying an additional 29,343 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 43.7% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 12,140 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $446,000 after purchasing an additional 3,692 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter worth approximately $223,000. DC Investments Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 55.2% during the fourth quarter. DC Investments Management LLC now owns 57,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,100,000 after purchasing an additional 20,328 shares during the period. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in NiSource by 72.3% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 302,324 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,113,000 after purchasing an additional 126,911 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at NiSource

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total value of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of NiSource from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group raised their price target on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $41.50.

NiSource Stock Down 0.3 %

NI stock opened at $39.51 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a 50-day moving average of $39.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.89. NiSource Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.60 and a 52-week high of $41.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.08. NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is 69.14%.

NiSource 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.