Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Boosts Stake in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 175,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,056 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in New Jersey Resources were worth $8,300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 39.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 618,379 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,430,000 after purchasing an additional 176,396 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources by 41.8% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 48,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after acquiring an additional 14,150 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of New Jersey Resources during the 1st quarter worth $1,635,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 192.9% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 387,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,581,000 after acquiring an additional 255,503 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,284,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,889,000 after acquiring an additional 40,094 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NJR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of New Jersey Resources from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of New Jersey Resources from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com lowered New Jersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on New Jersey Resources from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

New Jersey Resources Price Performance

New Jersey Resources stock opened at $46.38 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.60. New Jersey Resources Co. has a 1 year low of $39.44 and a 1 year high of $48.68. The company has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41 and a beta of 0.59.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by ($0.07). New Jersey Resources had a net margin of 13.61% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The firm had revenue of $275.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $283.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

New Jersey Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.88%. New Jersey Resources’s payout ratio is 75.31%.

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.