Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. Grows Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 487,618 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,618 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. owned about 0.10% of NiSource worth $16,894,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in NiSource by 0.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,396,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $394,888,000 after purchasing an additional 99,882 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in NiSource by 3.0% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 10,823,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $375,020,000 after purchasing an additional 316,225 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in NiSource by 0.7% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,374,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $183,636,000 after purchasing an additional 44,598 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in NiSource by 53.3% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,124,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $176,194,000 after purchasing an additional 1,782,078 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in NiSource by 1.4% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,908,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $141,415,000 after purchasing an additional 67,697 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NiSource Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NI stock opened at $38.09 on Monday. NiSource Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.80 and a 12-month high of $38.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $35.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.05. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 14.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $986.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on NI shares. Evercore ISI raised their price target on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Mizuho raised their price target on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on NiSource in a report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.50.

About NiSource

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.