StockNews.com Lowers New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) to Sell

StockNews.com cut shares of New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

NJR has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on New Jersey Resources from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Argus upgraded New Jersey Resources to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th.

New Jersey Resources Price Performance

Shares of New Jersey Resources stock opened at $48.00 on Friday. 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 has a one year low of $38.92 and a one year high of $48.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97 and a beta of 0.59. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.85.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $275.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $283.56 million. New Jersey Resources had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 13.61%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. Analysts forecast that New Jersey Resources will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

New Jersey Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from New Jersey Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.75%. New Jersey Resources’s payout ratio is 71.15%.

Insider Transactions at New Jersey Resources

In other news, CEO Stephen D. Westhoven sold 3,400 shares of New Jersey Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $153,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 195,305 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,788,725. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Stephen D. Westhoven sold 3,400 shares of New Jersey Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $153,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 195,305 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,788,725. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen D. Westhoven sold 26,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.06, for a total value of $1,198,596.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 168,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,601,847.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On New Jersey Resources

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NJR. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of New Jersey Resources during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,403,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in New Jersey Resources during the 1st quarter worth $19,337,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in New Jersey Resources by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,897,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $530,381,000 after purchasing an additional 332,420 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in New Jersey Resources by 192.9% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 387,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,581,000 after purchasing an additional 255,503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Energy Income Partners LLC grew its stake in New Jersey Resources by 54.9% during the 1st 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. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

New Jersey Resources Company Profile

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.