New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) Upgraded at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a report issued on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $54.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $52.00.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of New Jersey Resources from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on New Jersey Resources from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, New Jersey Resources has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.00.

New Jersey Resources Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of New Jersey Resources stock opened at $47.55 on Thursday. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $47.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.92. The company has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28 and a beta of 0.63.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that New Jersey Resources will post 3.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

New Jersey Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. New Jersey Resources’s payout ratio is currently 61.64%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On New Jersey Resources

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NJR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,956,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $126,372,000 after purchasing an additional 154,441 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in New Jersey Resources by 1.5% during 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 during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 3.2% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,284,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,889,000 after acquiring an additional 40,094 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,227,815 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,953,000 after acquiring an additional 33,772 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 39.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 618,379 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,430,000 after acquiring an additional 176,396 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.