First Financial Bankshares Inc Grows Stake in NiSource, Inc $NI

First Financial Bankshares Inc boosted its stake in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,008,683 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 16,718 shares during the quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc’s holdings in NiSource were worth $42,123,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nuveen LLC lifted its stake in NiSource by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 2,205,516 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,102,000 after buying an additional 385,552 shares in the last quarter. Xponance LLC lifted its stake in NiSource by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Xponance LLC now owns 79,597 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,324,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its stake in NiSource by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 196,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,193,000 after buying an additional 15,076 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its stake in NiSource by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 291,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,177,000 after buying an additional 20,979 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in NiSource by 264.0% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 44,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,840,000 after buying an additional 31,962 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Melody Birmingham sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.43, for a total value of $118,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 116,036 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,503,587.48. This represents a 2.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Melanie B. Berman sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.68, for a total value of $715,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 35,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,716,003.20. This represents a 29.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 27,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,305,675. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NI. Barclays upped their target price on NiSource from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Evercore set a $52.00 target price on NiSource in a research note on Monday, May 11th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of NiSource in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered NiSource from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.33.

NiSource Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of NI opened at $46.61 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $47.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $22.35 billion, a PE ratio of 23.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.54. NiSource, Inc has a fifty-two week low of $38.45 and a fifty-two week high of $48.98.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.06. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.31% and a net margin of 14.15%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. NiSource has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.020-2.070 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that NiSource, Inc will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.70%.

NiSource Company 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.