Melanie Berman Sells 15,000 Shares of NiSource (NYSE:NI) Stock

NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) EVP Melanie Berman sold 15,000 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.68, for a total value of $715,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 35,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,716,003.20. This trade represents a 29.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

NiSource Stock Down 1.6%

NiSource stock opened at $46.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.56. NiSource, Inc has a 1-year low of $38.45 and a 1-year high of $48.98. The company has a market cap of $22.39 billion, a PE ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $47.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.00.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.31% and a net margin of 14.15%.The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 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 2.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 20th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore set a $52.00 price target on NiSource in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NiSource from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Citigroup boosted their target price on NiSource from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded NiSource from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.33.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NiSource

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,408,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,606,180,000 after acquiring an additional 1,032,630 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in NiSource by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 51,504,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,150,818,000 after purchasing an additional 8,240,227 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in NiSource by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,735,119 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,116,459,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154,351 shares during the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC increased its stake in NiSource by 55,625.2% in the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 16,866,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $680,411,000 after purchasing an additional 16,836,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in NiSource by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,459,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $518,301,000 after purchasing an additional 245,110 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.