New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) Receives $51.00 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $51.00.

NJR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of New Jersey Resources from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $52.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of New Jersey Resources from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of New Jersey Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim upped their price target on New Jersey Resources from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on New Jersey Resources from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th.

New Jersey Resources Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of New Jersey Resources stock opened at $46.83 on Friday. New Jersey Resources has a 1-year low of $39.44 and a 1-year high of $51.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.04 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.07.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.89. New Jersey Resources had a return on equity of 13.54% and a net margin of 16.13%. The business had revenue of $395.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $406.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that New Jersey Resources will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

New Jersey Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.84%. New Jersey Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.64%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in New Jersey Resources by 5.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,956,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $126,372,000 after purchasing an additional 154,441 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in New Jersey Resources by 1.5% in 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 during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in New Jersey Resources by 3.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in New Jersey Resources by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,227,815 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,953,000 after acquiring an additional 33,772 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

About New Jersey Resources

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.