Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,267,456 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 39,641 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 1.27% of New Jersey Resources worth $59,127,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in New Jersey Resources by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,366,381 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $111,714,000 after buying an additional 34,782 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in New Jersey Resources by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,211,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,526,000 after buying an additional 96,393 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in 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 buying an additional 86,742 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its position in New Jersey Resources by 4.4% in the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 422,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,918,000 after buying an additional 17,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in New Jersey Resources by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 352,140 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,427,000 after buying an additional 1,037 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on NJR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on New Jersey Resources from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded New Jersey Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Guggenheim increased their target price on New Jersey Resources from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on New Jersey Resources from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Patrick J. Migliaccio sold 4,983 shares of the firm’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 value of $229,218.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 37,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,707,704. This trade represents a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

New Jersey Resources Price Performance

Shares of New Jersey Resources stock opened at $48.08 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $47.00 and a 200 day moving average of $47.16. New Jersey Resources Co. has a 12 month low of $40.62 and a 12 month high of $51.94. The firm has a market cap of $4.82 billion, a PE ratio of 14.48 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.15. New Jersey Resources had a return on equity of 15.72% and a net margin of 18.25%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

New Jersey Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. New Jersey Resources’s payout ratio is 54.22%.

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.