Metis Global Partners LLC Purchases 32,594 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 231.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,594 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $1,618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in NI. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in NiSource by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,741,713 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,350,000 after buying an additional 64,356 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 0.3% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,000,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,653,000 after acquiring an additional 3,186 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 3rd quarter worth $511,000. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in NiSource by 117.9% in the third quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 85,503 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,963,000 after acquiring an additional 46,269 shares during the period. Finally, Tyler Stone Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 99.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 29,322 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,016,000 after purchasing an additional 14,611 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on NI. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Mizuho boosted their target price on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on NiSource in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.50.

NiSource Price Performance

NYSE:NI opened at $36.57 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $34.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.62. The firm has a market cap of $17.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.51. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $24.80 and a one year high of $36.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.46.

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

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.