Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC Has $822,000 Stock Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 12.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,549 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,180 shares during the quarter. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $822,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in NiSource by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 54,946,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,519,823,000 after purchasing an additional 991,336 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 146.2% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 8,907,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $246,388,000 after buying an additional 5,290,322 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in NiSource by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,525,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $226,353,000 after buying an additional 1,826,202 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its stake in NiSource by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 7,272,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $193,083,000 after acquiring an additional 450,818 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in NiSource by 123.6% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,593,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $148,517,000 after acquiring an additional 3,092,138 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NiSource Stock Performance

NiSource stock opened at $33.18 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $30.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.63. NiSource Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.86 and a 52-week high of $33.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.50.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 9.15%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.265 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho initiated coverage on NiSource in a report on Thursday, July 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.00.

About NiSource

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.