NiSource (NYSE:NI) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $40.29 and last traded at $39.94, with a volume of 4369919 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $40.07.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on NI. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho raised their price target on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.13.

NiSource Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $18.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a positive change from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ING Groep NV purchased a new position in shares of NiSource in the 3rd quarter worth about $748,000. Thomasville National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 567,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,850,000 after acquiring an additional 16,364 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in NiSource by 88.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in NiSource by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,712,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $99,720,000 after purchasing an additional 483,491 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in NiSource in the third quarter valued at about $3,068,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

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.