Aberdeen Group plc Buys 76,480 Shares of NiSource, Inc $NI

Aberdeen Group plc grew its stake in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 24.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 386,764 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 76,480 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc owned approximately 0.08% of NiSource worth $16,712,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in NiSource by 2,668.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 667 shares in the last quarter. Country Trust Bank bought a new stake in shares of NiSource during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in NiSource in the third quarter worth $32,000. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in NiSource in the third quarter worth $36,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in NiSource by 116.7% in the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 975 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NI. Evercore upped their target price on shares of NiSource from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NiSource in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Barclays set a $45.00 target price on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on NiSource from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, NiSource has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.20.

NiSource Trading Down 3.0%

NYSE:NI opened at $45.32 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $21.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.24, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.65. NiSource, Inc has a 52 week low of $35.64 and a 52 week high of $47.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $43.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.70.

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

NiSource Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In related news, EVP Kimberly S. Cuccia sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $345,040.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 41,247 shares in the company, valued at $1,778,983.11. This represents a 16.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.