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

New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 7th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given 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 increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.9% per year 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 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 Performance

NYSE:NJR traded down $0.56 on Thursday, reaching $46.38. 570,738 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 489,427. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.93. New Jersey Resources has a 52 week low of $39.44 and a 52 week high of $48.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41 and a beta of 0.59.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $275.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $283.56 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.10 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that New Jersey Resources will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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