J. W. Coons Advisors LLC Purchases 1,472 Shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

J. W. Coons Advisors LLC raised its position in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) by 31.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,472 shares during the quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC’s holdings in New Jersey Resources were worth $287,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NJR. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,366,381 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $111,714,000 after purchasing an additional 34,782 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in New Jersey Resources by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,227,815 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,953,000 after purchasing an additional 33,772 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in New Jersey Resources by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 609,199 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,754,000 after purchasing an additional 86,742 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its position in New Jersey Resources by 4.4% in the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 422,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,918,000 after buying an additional 17,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 352,140 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,427,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Patrick J. Migliaccio sold 4,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total value of $229,218.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 37,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,707,704. The trade was a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on NJR. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on New Jersey Resources from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Guggenheim increased their target price on New Jersey Resources from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on New Jersey Resources from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised New Jersey Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.75.

New Jersey Resources Stock Performance

NYSE NJR opened at $47.64 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35 and a beta of 0.63. New Jersey Resources Co. has a twelve month low of $40.51 and a twelve month high of $51.94. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.15. New Jersey Resources had a return on equity of 15.72% and a net margin of 18.25%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

New Jersey Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.78%. New Jersey Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.22%.

New Jersey Resources Company Profile

New Jersey Resources Corporation, an energy services holding company, distributes natural gas. The company operates through four segments: Natural Gas Distribution, Clean Energy Ventures, Energy Services, and Storage and Transportation. The Natural Gas Distribution segment offers regulated natural gas utility services to approximately 576,000 customers in Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, and Sussex counties in New Jersey; provides capacity and storage management services; and participates in the off-system sales and capacity release markets.