Victory Capital Management Inc. Grows Stock Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,741,713 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 64,356 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $60,350,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MCF Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in NiSource in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in NiSource in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in NiSource during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource during the second quarter worth $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America started coverage on shares of NiSource in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, NiSource presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.50.

NiSource Stock Down 0.6 %

NI opened at $36.02 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.53. NiSource Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.80 and a 52 week high of $36.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market cap of $16.81 billion, a PE ratio of 21.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.51.

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

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.