Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Raises Stake in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) by 18.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,250 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in New Jersey Resources were worth $1,843,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NJR. Good Life Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 1.0% in the third quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 34,316 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,620,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in New Jersey Resources by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $434,000 after buying an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in New Jersey Resources by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,000 after buying an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources by 2.4% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 20,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $968,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategy Asset Managers LLC grew its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 6.1% during the third quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 8,592 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $406,000 after buying an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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. Mizuho raised their price target on New Jersey Resources from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Guggenheim upped 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 note on Wednesday, November 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of New Jersey Resources from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of New Jersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.00.

New Jersey Resources Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:NJR opened at $47.34 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 16.21 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. New Jersey Resources Co. has a 12-month low of $39.44 and a 12-month high of $51.94.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89. The company had revenue of $395.78 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.97 million. New Jersey Resources had a return on equity of 13.54% and a net margin of 16.13%. New Jersey Resources’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.30 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

New Jersey Resources Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other New Jersey Resources news, COO Patrick J. Migliaccio sold 4,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total transaction of $229,218.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 37,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,707,704. The trade was a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.