Monarch Capital Management Inc. Buys Shares of 5,370 NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Monarch Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NI. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 53,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,956,000 after buying an additional 930 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,033,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,001,000 after purchasing an additional 33,671 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in NiSource by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,268 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,995,000 after acquiring an additional 10,082 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in NiSource by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 54,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,011,000 after buying an additional 705 shares during the period. Finally, Strengthening Families & Communities LLC raised its stake in NiSource by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 26,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $974,000 after purchasing an additional 622 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other news, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 6,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.81, for a total value of $233,590.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,541 shares in the company, valued at $701,035.21. This trade represents a 24.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Melanie B. Berman sold 6,227 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total transaction of $245,468.34. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,882 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,528.44. This trade represents a 17.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,405 shares of company stock valued at $631,939. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NI. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group raised their price objective on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays upped their target price on NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of NiSource from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.50.

NiSource Trading Up 0.6%

NiSource stock opened at $39.58 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $18.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $38.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.38. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.83 and a 12 month high of $41.45.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.08. NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. NiSource’s payout ratio is presently 60.54%.

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.