Fox Hill Wealth Management Buys 1,077 Shares of NiSource, Inc $NI

Fox Hill Wealth Management grew its stake in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 48,732 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,077 shares during the quarter. NiSource comprises 1.0% of Fox Hill Wealth Management’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Fox Hill Wealth Management’s holdings in NiSource were worth $1,966,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in NiSource by 5.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,844,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,439,236,000 after acquiring an additional 3,050,420 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in NiSource by 12.4% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,020,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $962,997,000 after acquiring an additional 2,650,827 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in NiSource by 8.0% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 11,577,832 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $464,155,000 after acquiring an additional 857,653 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in NiSource by 88.9% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,535,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $221,935,000 after acquiring an additional 2,605,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in NiSource by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,821,510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $177,239,000 after acquiring an additional 239,897 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Zacks Research raised NiSource to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $44.00 price target (up from $42.00) on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded NiSource from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $48.00 to $44.00 in a report on Friday, September 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.88.

NiSource Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:NI opened at $41.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $19.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.81, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.48. NiSource, Inc has a 1 year low of $33.32 and a 1 year high of $43.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $41.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.05.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.25% and a net margin of 14.46%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.21 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is 59.57%.

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.