Swiss National Bank Grows Stock Holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Swiss National Bank increased its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 0.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,330,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,300 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in NiSource were worth $46,095,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NI. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in NiSource by 2.1% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $531,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in NiSource by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $119,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank lifted its position in NiSource by 0.7% in the second quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 53,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,548,000 after acquiring an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in NiSource by 3.2% in the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 13,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $483,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aurora Investment Counsel grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 0.7% during the second quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 62,589 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,803,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of NiSource in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

NiSource Stock Up 0.5 %

NiSource stock opened at $37.30 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $34.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.80. 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 company has a market cap of $17.41 billion, a PE ratio of 22.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.51. NiSource Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.80 and a 1-year high of $37.31.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $986.00 million. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 14.63%. NiSource’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource 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.