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

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

A number of research analysts recently commented on NJR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of 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 research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on New Jersey Resources from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com raised New Jersey Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of New Jersey Resources from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of New Jersey Resources from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other New Jersey Resources news, COO Patrick J. Migliaccio sold 4,983 shares of New Jersey Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total transaction of $229,218.00. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On New Jersey Resources

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of NJR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 16.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 609,199 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,754,000 after purchasing an additional 86,742 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in New Jersey Resources by 57.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 22,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,150,000 after buying an additional 8,230 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of New Jersey Resources during the 3rd quarter valued at $271,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,366,381 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $111,714,000 after acquiring an additional 34,782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources by 140.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 189,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,959,000 after acquiring an additional 110,723 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

New Jersey Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NJR stock opened at $46.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.36. New Jersey Resources has a 12-month low of $39.44 and a 12-month high of $51.94. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.93 and a beta of 0.63.

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

New Jersey Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. New Jersey Resources’s dividend payout ratio is 61.64%.

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.