New Jersey Resources Co. (NJR) To Go Ex-Dividend on September 23rd

New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 11th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 23rd. This is a positive change from New Jersey Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42.

New Jersey Resources has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.9% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 29 years. New Jersey Resources has a dividend payout ratio of 62.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect New Jersey Resources to earn $2.89 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.3%.

New Jersey Resources Price Performance

NYSE NJR opened at $47.64 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83 and a beta of 0.59. New Jersey Resources has a 1-year low of $38.92 and a 1-year high of $48.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $46.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.99.

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 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 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 business posted $0.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that New Jersey Resources will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective 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. Mizuho raised their price target on New Jersey Resources from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Argus upgraded shares of New Jersey Resources to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut New Jersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, September 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling at New Jersey Resources

In other news, CEO Stephen D. Westhoven sold 26,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.06, for a total transaction of $1,198,596.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 168,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,601,847.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other New Jersey Resources news, CEO Stephen D. Westhoven sold 26,600 shares of New Jersey Resources stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.06, for a total transaction of $1,198,596.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 168,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,601,847.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Stephen D. Westhoven sold 3,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $153,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 195,305 shares in the company, valued at $8,788,725. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.