New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) Receives $51.00 Average PT from Analysts

New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $51.00.

NJR has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised New Jersey Resources from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut New Jersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of New Jersey Resources from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of 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.

New Jersey Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NJR opened at $47.34 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.60. New Jersey Resources has a 12-month low of $39.44 and a 12-month high of $51.94. The firm has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 16.21 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.89. New Jersey Resources had a net margin of 16.13% and a return on equity of 13.54%. The company had revenue of $395.78 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.97 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. New Jersey Resources’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that New Jersey Resources will post 3.1 EPS for the current year.

New Jersey Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.80%. New Jersey Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.64%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 37,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,707,704. The trade was a 11.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On New Jersey Resources

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in New Jersey Resources by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,956,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $126,372,000 after purchasing an additional 154,441 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 13.7% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 5,478 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after buying an additional 659 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 11.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 10,061 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $430,000 after buying an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL acquired a new position in shares of New Jersey Resources during the 2nd quarter worth $479,000. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of New Jersey Resources in the 2nd quarter worth about $638,000. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.