2,680 Shares in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) Bought by Atwood & Palmer Inc.

Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,680 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $125,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings 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 valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its position in New Jersey Resources by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 127,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,954,000 after buying an additional 3,800 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 39,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,843,000 after buying an additional 6,250 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources by 59.0% during the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 33,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,552,000 after buying an additional 12,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 2,500.0% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 10,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $485,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

New Jersey Resources Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of New Jersey Resources stock opened at $47.34 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.60. New Jersey Resources Co. has a 1 year low of $39.44 and a 1 year high of $51.94. The company has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.21 and a beta of 0.64.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $395.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $406.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.30 EPS. New Jersey Resources’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 3.1 EPS for the current year.

New Jersey Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were paid 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 dividend yield of 3.80%. New Jersey Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NJR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Guggenheim increased their price target on New Jersey Resources from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of New Jersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of New Jersey Resources from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of New Jersey Resources from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, New Jersey Resources has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Patrick J. Migliaccio sold 4,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total value of $229,218.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 37,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,707,704. This represents a 11.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by 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.