Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Purchases 6,481 Shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR - Free Report) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 71,402 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 6,481 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.07% of New Jersey Resources worth $3,331,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of New Jersey Resources during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 9,400.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 665 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 658 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources by 69.8% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 839 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in New Jersey Resources in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in New Jersey Resources during the 4th quarter worth $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on New Jersey Resources from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on New Jersey Resources from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of New Jersey Resources from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on New Jersey Resources from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of New Jersey Resources in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a "hold" rating and a $51.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $51.33.

New Jersey Resources Stock Performance

NJR stock traded down $0.69 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $47.29. The company had a trading volume of 648,323 shares, compared to its average volume of 535,954. New Jersey Resources Co. has a 12 month low of $41.58 and a 12 month high of $51.95. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $48.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.80. The firm has a market cap of $4.74 billion, a PE ratio of 14.24 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.89.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $913.03 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $732.00 million. New Jersey Resources had a return on equity of 15.72% and a net margin of 18.25%. New Jersey Resources's revenue for the quarter was up 38.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.41 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 3.15 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 Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. New Jersey Resources's payout ratio is 54.22%.

Insider Activity

In other New Jersey Resources news, CFO Roberto Bel sold 1,173 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $58,650.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 22,649 shares in the company, valued at $1,132,450. This represents a 4.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

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.