Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Cuts Stock Holdings in NiSource, Inc $NI

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its holdings in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 3.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 455,767 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 16,662 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in NiSource were worth $21,266,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NI. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in NiSource by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 891,464 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,228,000 after buying an additional 262,483 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at $336,852,000. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 5,424,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $226,537,000 after acquiring an additional 415,089 shares during the period. De Lisle Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of NiSource in the 4th quarter worth $4,176,000. Finally, Vestcor Inc raised its position in shares of NiSource by 320.7% in the 4th quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 65,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,750,000 after acquiring an additional 50,200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Melanie B. Berman sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.68, for a total value of $715,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 35,990 shares in the company, valued at $1,716,003.20. This trade represents a 29.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Melody Birmingham sold 2,500 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.43, for a total value of $118,575.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 116,036 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,503,587.48. This represents a 2.11% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 27,500 shares of company stock worth $1,305,675 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NI. Evercore set a $52.00 price objective on NiSource in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada began coverage on shares of NiSource in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $52.00 target price for the company. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of NiSource from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of NiSource from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of NiSource in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $52.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.50.

NiSource Stock Down 0.9%

NI stock opened at $46.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.37 billion, a PE ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.55. NiSource, Inc has a 52 week low of $38.45 and a 52 week high of $49.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $47.05 and a 200 day moving average of $46.06.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06. NiSource had a net margin of 14.15% and a return on equity of 8.31%. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.85 EPS. NiSource has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.020-2.070 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that NiSource, Inc will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. NiSource’s payout ratio is 59.70%.

About NiSource

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.