Good Life Advisors LLC Purchases 333 Shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Good Life Advisors LLC grew its position in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) by 1.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 34,316 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC’s holdings in New Jersey Resources were worth $1,620,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NJR. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in New Jersey Resources by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,897,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $530,381,000 after purchasing an additional 332,420 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources by 5.5% during the 2nd 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. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 3.2% in 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 in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 1.0% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 917,203 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,357,000 after acquiring an additional 8,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in New Jersey Resources by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 819,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,542,000 after acquiring an additional 92,152 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on NJR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on New Jersey Resources from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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 report on Wednesday. Mizuho increased 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 note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of New Jersey Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.00.

New Jersey Resources Stock Down 1.3 %

NJR opened at $47.01 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.53. New Jersey Resources Co. has a 1-year low of $39.44 and a 1-year high of $48.68. The stock has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a PE ratio of 18.58 and a beta of 0.59.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last posted 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 return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 13.61%. The company had revenue of $275.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $283.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

New Jersey Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a $0.45 dividend. This is an increase from New Jersey Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. New Jersey Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.15%.

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.