New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) Rating Increased to Overweight 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 research note released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has $54.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $52.00.

NJR has been the topic of a number of other reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of New Jersey Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim lifted 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. Mizuho upped 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.00.

New Jersey Resources Stock Performance

NYSE:NJR opened at $47.55 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $47.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.92. 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 $4.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28 and a beta of 0.63. New Jersey Resources has a 1-year low of $39.44 and a 1-year high of $51.94.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $395.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.97 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. New Jersey Resources’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that New Jersey Resources will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

New Jersey Resources Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of New Jersey Resources

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NJR. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in New Jersey Resources by 57.5% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 22,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,150,000 after buying an additional 8,230 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of New Jersey Resources in the 3rd quarter worth about $271,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $111,714,000 after acquiring an additional 34,782 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its position in New Jersey Resources by 140.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 189,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,959,000 after purchasing an additional 110,723 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC boosted its stake in New Jersey Resources by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 8,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $407,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093 shares during the period. 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.