Versant Capital Management Inc Grows Position in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) by 9,400.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 658 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in New Jersey Resources were worth $31,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in New Jersey Resources by 57.5% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 22,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,150,000 after buying an additional 8,230 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in New Jersey Resources in the third quarter valued at $271,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in New Jersey Resources by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,366,381 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $111,714,000 after buying an additional 34,782 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 140.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 189,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,959,000 after acquiring an additional 110,723 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at New Jersey Resources

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim boosted their target price on New Jersey Resources from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of New Jersey Resources from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of New Jersey Resources from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $52.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of New Jersey Resources from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, StockNews.com raised New Jersey Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.00.

New Jersey Resources Stock Up 0.0 %

NJR stock opened at $45.69 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.65 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $47.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.36. New Jersey Resources Co. has a 12 month low of $39.44 and a 12 month high of $51.94.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.89. The business had revenue of $395.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.97 million. New Jersey Resources had a net margin of 16.13% and a return on equity of 13.54%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

New Jersey Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. New Jersey Resources’s payout ratio is currently 61.64%.

About New Jersey Resources

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.