New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) Declares $0.45 Quarterly Dividend

New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 7th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%.

New Jersey Resources has raised its dividend by an average of 7.9% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 29 consecutive years. New Jersey Resources has a dividend payout ratio of 62.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect New Jersey Resources to earn $2.89 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.3%.

New Jersey Resources Stock Down 1.2 %

New Jersey Resources stock opened at $46.38 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $46.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.93. The company has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a PE ratio of 19.41 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.41. New Jersey Resources has a 1-year low of $39.44 and a 1-year high of $48.68.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by ($0.07). New Jersey Resources had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 13.61%. The company had revenue of $275.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $283.56 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that New Jersey Resources will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on NJR shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of New Jersey Resources from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on New Jersey Resources from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of New Jersey Resources from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut New Jersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, New Jersey Resources currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

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.