Korea Investment CORP Sells 19,400 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Korea Investment CORP trimmed its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 281,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 19,400 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.06% of NiSource worth $10,356,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 88.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,373,000 after buying an additional 6,991,608 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in NiSource by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,793,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,124,492,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,452 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of NiSource by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $786,249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247,368 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 793.3% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 883,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,609,000 after purchasing an additional 784,495 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service bought a new stake in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,642,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total value of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NiSource Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $39.88 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $38.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. NiSource Inc. has a 12-month low of $26.26 and a 12-month high of $41.45. The company has a market cap of $18.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.62, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. NiSource’s payout ratio is 69.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on NI shares. Mizuho increased their price objective on NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.33.

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.