New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) Shares Sold by FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH trimmed its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 801 shares during the period. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in New Jersey Resources were worth $1,003,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of NJR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake 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. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in New Jersey Resources by 13.7% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 5,478 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after buying an additional 659 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in New Jersey Resources by 11.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 10,061 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $430,000 after buying an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL acquired a new position in shares of New Jersey Resources in the second quarter worth about $479,000. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of New Jersey Resources during the 2nd quarter worth about $638,000. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other New Jersey Resources news, COO Patrick J. Migliaccio sold 4,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total value of $229,218.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 37,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,707,704. This trade represents a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NJR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded New Jersey Resources from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $52.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut New Jersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on New Jersey Resources from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of New Jersey Resources from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of New Jersey Resources from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.00.

New Jersey Resources Stock Performance

NYSE NJR opened at $47.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.36. New Jersey Resources Co. has a 1-year low of $39.44 and a 1-year high of $51.94. The company has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 16.21 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.55.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $395.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $406.97 million. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

New Jersey Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. New Jersey Resources’s payout ratio is 61.64%.

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.