New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) Shares Bought by ICW Investment Advisors LLC

ICW Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. ICW Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in New Jersey Resources were worth $751,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 3.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,564,868 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $469,881,000 after purchasing an additional 373,802 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 7,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 906 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 56.3% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 24,112 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $980,000 after acquiring an additional 8,681 shares during the period. Mattern Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 163,683 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,650,000 after acquiring an additional 29,492 shares during the period. Finally, Graham Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 171.4% in the 3rd quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. now owns 55,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,272,000 after acquiring an additional 35,318 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NJR. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of New Jersey Resources from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of New Jersey Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th.

New Jersey Resources Price Performance

New Jersey Resources stock traded up $0.59 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $44.28. 127,960 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 505,487. The firm has a market cap of $4.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.91 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.57. New Jersey Resources Co. has a 1-year low of $38.92 and a 1-year high of $52.93.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.89 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $467.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $812.66 million. New Jersey Resources had a net margin of 13.96% and a return on equity of 11.13%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

New Jersey Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 12th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. New Jersey Resources’s payout ratio is 68.85%.

New Jersey Resources 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.