Strengthening Families & Communities LLC Buys 1,958 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Strengthening Families & Communities LLC raised its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 8.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,958 shares during the quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $897,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NI. Zimmer Partners LP grew its stake in NiSource by 146.2% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $246,388,000 after purchasing an additional 5,290,322 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in NiSource by 68.1% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,342,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $96,407,000 after purchasing an additional 1,353,977 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL bought a new position in shares of NiSource during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,419,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,946,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,519,823,000 after acquiring an additional 991,336 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 118.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,616,189 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,449,000 after acquiring an additional 876,033 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NiSource Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NI stock opened at $36.57 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $17.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.16, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.64. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.80 and a fifty-two week high of $36.74.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $986.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on NI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays increased their target price on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho increased their target price on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on NiSource in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, NiSource currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.