Sound Income Strategies LLC Has $131,000 Stock Position in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Sound Income Strategies LLC lessened its position in shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) by 26.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 992 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in New Jersey Resources were worth $131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of New Jersey Resources in the 3rd quarter worth about $8,590,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in New Jersey Resources by 39.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 618,379 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,430,000 after purchasing an additional 176,396 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in New Jersey Resources by 8,995.5% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 157,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,414,000 after purchasing an additional 155,352 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC lifted its stake in New Jersey Resources by 176.0% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 185,637 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,934,000 after buying an additional 118,377 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 140.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 189,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,959,000 after buying an additional 110,723 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on NJR shares. 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 note on Wednesday, November 27th. 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 report on Wednesday, November 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of New Jersey Resources from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered New Jersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Patrick J. Migliaccio sold 4,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total value of $229,218.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 37,124 shares in the company, valued at $1,707,704. The trade was a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

New Jersey Resources Stock Up 0.5 %

New Jersey Resources stock opened at $46.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $47.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.06 and a beta of 0.64. New Jersey Resources Co. has a 1-year low of $39.44 and a 1-year high of $51.94.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89. The business had revenue of $395.78 million during 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.30 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

New Jersey Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. New Jersey Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.64%.

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.