First Trust Advisors LP Reduces Position in NiSource, Inc $NI

First Trust Advisors LP decreased its stake in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 4.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,873,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 83,162 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in NiSource were worth $81,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. LOM Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in NiSource by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. LOM Asset Management Ltd now owns 11,561 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $501,000 after acquiring an additional 840 shares during the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC grew its stake in NiSource by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 82,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,568,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264 shares during the last quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors grew its stake in NiSource by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors now owns 21,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $915,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 1.9% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,483,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,526,000 after purchasing an additional 46,441 shares during the period. Finally, Fox Hill Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 9.0% in the third quarter. Fox Hill Wealth Management now owns 53,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,299,000 after purchasing an additional 4,370 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, December 29th. Barclays set a $45.00 price target on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, December 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 3rd. BMO Capital Markets set a $50.00 price objective on shares of NiSource in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of NiSource from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.20.

NiSource Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NI opened at $47.04 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.12, a PEG ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.64. NiSource, Inc has a 52 week low of $35.64 and a 52 week high of $47.67. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $44.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.02. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.07% and a net margin of 13.99%.The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. NiSource has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.020-2.070 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is a positive change from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. NiSource’s payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

NiSource Company Profile

NiSource, Inc (NYSE: NI) is a publicly traded energy holding company headquartered in Merrillville, Indiana, that primarily owns and operates regulated local gas and electric utilities in the United States. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company delivers natural gas and electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers and provides the associated distribution and transmission services that keep local energy systems functioning.

The company’s core activities include natural gas distribution, electric transmission and distribution, system operations, maintenance and emergency response.