Brokerages Set New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) Price Target at $51.00

New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the five brokerages that are covering the stock, 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 objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $51.00.

NJR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Guggenheim raised their target price on New Jersey Resources from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com lowered New Jersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on New Jersey Resources from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised New Jersey Resources from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $54.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th.

New Jersey Resources Stock Down 2.4 %

New Jersey Resources stock opened at $46.66 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.98 and a beta of 0.64. New Jersey Resources has a 52 week low of $39.44 and a 52 week high of $51.94. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $47.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31.

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

New Jersey Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 11th. New Jersey Resources’s payout ratio is 61.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Patrick J. Migliaccio sold 4,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total transaction of $229,218.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 37,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,707,704. The trade was a 11.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of New Jersey Resources

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NJR. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of New Jersey Resources during the third quarter worth approximately $8,590,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in New Jersey Resources by 39.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 618,379 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,430,000 after buying an additional 176,396 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in New Jersey Resources by 8,995.5% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 157,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,414,000 after buying an additional 155,352 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in New Jersey Resources by 5.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,956,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $126,372,000 after buying an additional 154,441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC boosted its stake in New Jersey Resources by 176.0% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 185,637 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,934,000 after buying an additional 118,377 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.