HF Advisory Group LLC Has $1.67 Million Stock Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

HF Advisory Group LLC trimmed its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 23.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 45,522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 14,225 shares during the quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $1,673,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NI. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its position in NiSource by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $329,000 after buying an additional 1,885 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 153.2% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource during the 4th quarter valued at about $230,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 208,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,678,000 after acquiring an additional 3,306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in NiSource by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 422,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,516,000 after purchasing an additional 27,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays lifted their price objective on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho increased their target price on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.50.

NiSource Stock Up 0.3 %

NI opened at $38.13 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $36.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.23. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.80 and a fifty-two week high of $38.56.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $986.00 million. NiSource had a net margin of 14.63% and a return on equity of 8.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate 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.