NiSource, Inc $NI Shares Acquired by Magellan Asset Management Ltd

Magellan Asset Management Ltd boosted its stake in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 369,164 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,721 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in NiSource were worth $15,985,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of NiSource by 2,668.0% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Country Trust Bank bought a new stake in NiSource in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in NiSource during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in NiSource in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in NiSource by 116.7% in the 2nd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 975 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on NiSource from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Citigroup lifted their target price on NiSource from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Mizuho boosted their price target on NiSource from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Evercore increased their price target on NiSource from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.20.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $46.44 on Wednesday. NiSource, Inc has a 1 year low of $35.64 and a 1 year high of $47.05. The firm has a market cap of $22.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.81, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $43.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.69.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.02. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.07% and a net margin of 13.99%.The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.49 earnings per share. NiSource has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.020-2.070 EPS. Research analysts forecast that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is a positive change from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. NiSource’s payout ratio is 61.54%.

About NiSource

NiSource, Inc (NYSE: NI) is a publicly traded energy holding company headquartered in Merrillville, Indiana, that primarily owns and operates regulated local gas and electric utilities in the United States. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company delivers natural gas and electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers and provides the associated distribution and transmission services that keep local energy systems functioning.

The company’s core activities include natural gas distribution, electric transmission and distribution, system operations, maintenance and emergency response.