NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $36.29.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NI. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of NiSource in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NI. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in NiSource in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. MCF Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource during the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. First Financial Corp IN acquired a new position in NiSource in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in NiSource in the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE NI opened at $34.82 on Friday. NiSource has a twelve month low of $24.58 and a twelve month high of $35.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market cap of $15.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.36, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $33.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.77.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 9.15%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that NiSource will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.03%.

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.