Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Makes New Investment in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC acquired a new stake in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 25,139 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,187,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NJR. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 192.9% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 387,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,581,000 after buying an additional 255,503 shares during the last quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 54.9% in the first quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 537,636 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,070,000 after purchasing an additional 190,500 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 65.5% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 480,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,623,000 after purchasing an additional 190,028 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $26,430,000 after buying an additional 176,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted 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 buying an additional 154,441 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on NJR shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on New Jersey Resources from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on New Jersey Resources from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of New Jersey Resources from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of New Jersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.00.

New Jersey Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NJR stock opened at $45.17 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.41. New Jersey Resources Co. has a one year low of $39.44 and a one year high of $48.68. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a PE ratio of 18.90 and a beta of 0.59.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by ($0.07). New Jersey Resources had a net margin of 13.61% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The company had revenue of $275.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $283.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

New Jersey Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This is a boost from New Jersey Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. New Jersey Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 75.31%.

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.