Morton Community Bank Has $3.92 Million Stock Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Morton Community Bank raised its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 0.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 113,105 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 885 shares during the quarter. Morton Community Bank’s holdings in NiSource were worth $3,919,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC grew its holdings in NiSource by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,396,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $394,888,000 after buying an additional 99,882 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 10,823,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $375,020,000 after acquiring an additional 316,225 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 6,374,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $183,636,000 after acquiring an additional 44,598 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 53.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,124,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $176,194,000 after acquiring an additional 1,782,078 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of NiSource by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,908,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $141,415,000 after acquiring an additional 67,697 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Price Performance

NiSource stock opened at $38.09 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35. NiSource Inc. has a one year low of $24.80 and a one year high of $38.56. The company has a market capitalization of $17.78 billion, a PE 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $986.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NI has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on NiSource in a research report on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho raised their price objective on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock 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.