Legal & General Group Plc Invests $179.84 Million in NiSource, Inc $NI

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,782,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $179,838,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.79% of NiSource at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NI. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource during the second quarter valued at $2,613,234,000. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC increased its stake in NiSource by 55,625.2% in the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 16,866,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $680,411,000 after purchasing an additional 16,836,630 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in NiSource in the 2nd quarter worth about $574,295,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in NiSource by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 51,504,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,150,818,000 after buying an additional 8,240,227 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in NiSource during the 4th quarter worth about $336,852,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NiSource Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE:NI opened at $41.15 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.41. NiSource, Inc has a fifty-two week low of $38.45 and a fifty-two week high of $49.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $45.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.21. The stock has a market cap of $19.73 billion, a PE ratio of 21.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.55.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 13.20% and a return on equity of 7.95%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.22 earnings per share. NiSource has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.020-2.070 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that NiSource, Inc will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.83%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Melody Birmingham sold 37,509 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.40, for a total transaction of $1,590,381.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 78,527 shares in the company, valued at $3,329,544.80. The trade was a 32.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Evercore set a $52.00 price target on shares of NiSource in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of NiSource from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of NiSource from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.64.

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.