Aurora Investment Counsel Has $257,000 Stock Position in NiSource, Inc $NI

Aurora Investment Counsel cut its stake in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 22.6% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,858 shares during the quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel’s holdings in NiSource were worth $257,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Crumly & Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 1.5% in the second quarter. Crumly & Associates Inc. now owns 18,274 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 48.8% in the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 3.9% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,167 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $289,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 3.9% in the first quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Analysts LLC grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 0.6% in the first quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 50,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,021,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on NI shares. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $44.00 target price (up from $42.00) on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered NiSource from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $48.00 to $44.00 in a report on Friday, September 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on NiSource from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Zacks Research raised NiSource to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.56.

NiSource Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NI stock opened at $43.89 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $42.13 and its 200 day moving average is $40.59. NiSource, Inc has a 52-week low of $34.23 and a 52-week high of $44.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $20.67 billion, a PE ratio of 23.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.60.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.25% and a net margin of 14.46%.During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.21 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. NiSource’s payout ratio is currently 59.57%.

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.