Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp Has $730,000 Stake in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp reduced its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,468 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,176 shares during the quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings in New Jersey Resources were worth $730,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 57.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 22,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,150,000 after purchasing an additional 8,230 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in New Jersey Resources during the third quarter worth about $271,000. 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 last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 140.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 189,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,959,000 after buying an additional 110,723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources by 14.5% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 8,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $407,000 after acquiring an additional 1,093 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on NJR. StockNews.com upgraded New Jersey Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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 report on Thursday. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of New Jersey Resources from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Guggenheim raised 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 report on Wednesday, November 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, New Jersey Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.00.

New Jersey Resources Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE NJR opened at $47.55 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28 and a beta of 0.63. New Jersey Resources Co. has a 52 week low of $39.44 and a 52 week high of $51.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.62. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $47.75 and a 200-day moving average of $45.95.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89. The firm had revenue of $395.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $406.97 million. New Jersey Resources had a return on equity of 13.54% and a net margin of 16.13%. The company’s revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

New Jersey Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. New Jersey Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.