Mackenzie Financial Corp Decreases Stock Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Mackenzie Financial Corp decreased its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 21.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 541,359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 146,700 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned about 0.13% of NiSource worth $14,373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 52,613,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,673,113,000 after buying an additional 5,153,843 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in NiSource by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 24,192,844 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $769,332,000 after acquiring an additional 1,970,696 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of NiSource by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 13,111,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $323,582,000 after purchasing an additional 39,374 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,609,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $240,171,000 after purchasing an additional 161,412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,101,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $199,952,000 after purchasing an additional 326,999 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NI stock opened at $27.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.64, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a 50 day moving average of $26.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.14. NiSource Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.86 and a 52 week high of $28.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 10.10%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.265 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.87%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.11%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their price target on NiSource from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com raised NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NiSource news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 11,141 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total transaction of $297,019.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $632,375.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Profile

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.