NiSource Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.27 (NYSE:NI)

NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, May 13th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a dividend of 0.265 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, August 20th. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st.

NiSource has increased its dividend payment by an average of 6.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. NiSource has a payout ratio of 57.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect NiSource to earn $1.84 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.06 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 57.6%.

NiSource Price Performance

NI opened at $31.32 on Tuesday. NiSource has a 12-month low of $22.86 and a 12-month high of $31.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.66. The company has a market capitalization of $14.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.47, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.56% and a net margin of 14.23%. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.77 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that NiSource will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at NiSource

In other news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 3,742 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total value of $104,626.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,978 shares in the company, valued at $558,584.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on NiSource from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on NiSource from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Mizuho initiated coverage on NiSource in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on NiSource from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.50.

NiSource Company 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.