NewJersey Resources Corporation (NYSE:NJR) Receives $51.43 Consensus PT from Brokerages

NewJersey Resources Corporation (NYSE:NJR) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $51.4286.

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised NewJersey Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 target price (up from $49.00) on shares of NewJersey Resources in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of NewJersey Resources in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Institutional Trading of NewJersey Resources

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in NewJersey Resources by 0.8% during the second quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 31,318 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,404,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NewJersey Resources by 42.0% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 839 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the period. Jacobi Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NewJersey Resources by 1.0% in the first quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 28,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,398,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of NewJersey Resources by 23.1% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its holdings in shares of NewJersey Resources by 0.8% in the second quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 33,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,518,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NewJersey Resources Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE NJR opened at $46.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. NewJersey Resources has a twelve month low of $43.80 and a twelve month high of $51.94. The company has a market cap of $4.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s fifty day moving average is $46.81 and its 200 day moving average is $46.61.

NewJersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $912.32 million for the quarter. NewJersey Resources had a return on equity of 17.08% and a net margin of 19.64%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that NewJersey Resources will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NewJersey Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 22nd. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. This is an increase from NewJersey Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. NewJersey Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.45%.

About NewJersey 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.