NiSource Inc. (NI): Why Are Top Investors Fleeing?

Since NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) has witnessed a declination in interest from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of hedge funds that elected to cut their entire stakes last quarter. It’s worth mentioning that James Crichton’s Hitchwood Capital Management cut the biggest position of the “upper crust” of funds watched by Insider Monkey, totaling about $109.4 million in stock, and Kevin D. Eng’s Columbus Hill Capital Management was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $92.1 million worth of shares. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest fell by 7 funds last quarter.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI). These stocks are Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO), OneMain Holdings Inc (NYSE:LEAF), Dicks Sporting Goods Inc (NYSE:DKS), and Packaging Corp Of America (NYSE:PKG). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to NiSource Inc.’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 22 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1.08 billion. That figure was $490 million in NiSource Inc.’s case. OneMain Holdings Inc (NYSE:LEAF) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Atmos Energy Corporation (NYSE:ATO) is the least popular one with only 11 bullish hedge fund positions. NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. This is a slightly positive signal but we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on and in which recent sentiment isn’t so poor. In this regard OneMain Holdings Inc might be a better candidate to consider a long position.