14,302 Shares in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) Purchased by Sanctuary Advisors LLC

Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 14,302 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $620,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cox Capital Mgt LLC boosted its position in New Jersey Resources by 180.8% during the first quarter. Cox Capital Mgt LLC now owns 75,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,246,000 after acquiring an additional 48,703 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in New Jersey Resources by 39.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 618,379 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,430,000 after purchasing an additional 176,396 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in New Jersey Resources in the 1st quarter valued at about $19,337,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in New Jersey Resources by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,897,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $530,381,000 after purchasing an additional 332,420 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $2,061,000 after purchasing an additional 14,150 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of New Jersey Resources from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Mizuho boosted their target price 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of New Jersey Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 22nd.

New Jersey Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NJR stock opened at $46.00 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $46.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.46. 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 one year low of $39.44 and a one year high of $48.68. The firm has a market cap of $4.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.18 and a beta of 0.59.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $283.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

New Jersey Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is an increase from New Jersey Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. New Jersey Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.15%.

New Jersey Resources 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.