NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Director Michael E. Jesanis Sells 6,178 Shares

NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 6,178 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total transaction of $233,590.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,541 shares in the company, valued at $701,035.21. The trade was a 24.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

NiSource Stock Performance

NI opened at $38.68 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $18.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.88, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.53. NiSource Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.60 and a 1-year high of $41.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.96. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.90%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of NiSource from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NiSource

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NI. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in NiSource by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 950,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,112,000 after purchasing an additional 45,791 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its stake in NiSource by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 89,313 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,581,000 after acquiring an additional 8,919 shares during the period. Alkeon Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $98,682,000. Graham Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in NiSource in the 1st quarter worth $9,775,000. Finally, Energy Income Partners LLC boosted its stake in NiSource by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 348,755 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,982,000 after purchasing an additional 8,265 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Company 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.