HighTower Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in NiSource, Inc $NI

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 72,817 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,783 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $3,153,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Magnetar Financial LLC raised its position in NiSource by 195.5% in the second quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 182,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,380,000 after acquiring an additional 121,043 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its position in shares of NiSource by 10.6% during the 2nd quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 340,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,737,000 after acquiring an additional 32,595 shares during the period. Williamson Legacy Group LLC increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 138.7% during the 2nd quarter. Williamson Legacy Group LLC now owns 29,720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,199,000 after purchasing an additional 17,271 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,215,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $170,070,000 after purchasing an additional 55,515 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC purchased a new position in NiSource in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,113,000. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on NiSource from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. UBS Group increased their price target on NiSource from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Evercore lifted their price objective on NiSource from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on NiSource from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.20.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NI opened at $46.69 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.69. NiSource, Inc has a 52-week low of $35.64 and a 52-week high of $47.05.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.02. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.07% and a net margin of 13.99%.The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.49 EPS. NiSource has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.020-2.070 EPS. Research analysts forecast that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is a boost from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. NiSource’s payout ratio is currently 61.54%.

NiSource Profile

NiSource, Inc (NYSE: NI) is a publicly traded energy holding company headquartered in Merrillville, Indiana, that primarily owns and operates regulated local gas and electric utilities in the United States. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company delivers natural gas and electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers and provides the associated distribution and transmission services that keep local energy systems functioning.

The company’s core activities include natural gas distribution, electric transmission and distribution, system operations, maintenance and emergency response.