Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Boosts Stake in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) by 59.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,353 shares during the quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings in New Jersey Resources were worth $1,552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NJR. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in New Jersey Resources during the third quarter valued at about $8,590,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 39.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 618,379 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,430,000 after buying an additional 176,396 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 8,995.5% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 157,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,414,000 after buying an additional 155,352 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 5.5% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC raised its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources by 176.0% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 185,637 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,934,000 after acquiring an additional 118,377 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NJR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho lifted 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. Guggenheim boosted their target price 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. StockNews.com cut New Jersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on New Jersey Resources from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of New Jersey Resources from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, New Jersey Resources currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.00.

New Jersey Resources Stock Up 0.8 %

New Jersey Resources stock opened at $46.03 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.51. 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 company has a market cap of $4.59 billion, a PE ratio of 15.76 and a beta of 0.64. New Jersey Resources Co. has a fifty-two week low of $39.44 and a fifty-two week high of $51.94.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89. New Jersey Resources had a net margin of 16.13% and a return on equity of 13.54%. The firm had revenue of $395.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $406.97 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.30 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 3.1 EPS for the current year.

New Jersey Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. New Jersey Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.64%.

Insider Activity at New Jersey Resources

In other news, COO Patrick J. Migliaccio sold 4,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total transaction of $229,218.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.