Picton Mahoney Asset Management Invests $4.60 Million in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 173,167 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,598,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in NiSource by 0.3% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,111,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $323,582,000 after acquiring an additional 39,374 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in NiSource by 4.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,101,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $199,952,000 after acquiring an additional 326,999 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in NiSource by 20.6% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,070,847 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $125,149,000 after acquiring an additional 865,245 shares in the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. raised its position in NiSource by 7.8% during the third quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,400,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $108,605,000 after acquiring an additional 319,143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 4,094,510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $108,709,000 after purchasing an additional 192,680 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE:NI traded down $0.35 on Wednesday, reaching $28.70. 6,180,495 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,254,028. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s 50 day moving average is $27.29 and its 200-day moving average is $26.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. NiSource Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.86 and a 1-year high of $29.17.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. NiSource had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 10.10%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.265 per share. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.11%.

Insider Transactions at NiSource

In related news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 11,141 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total value of $297,019.06. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 23,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $632,375.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NI has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th.

NiSource Company Profile

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.