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

New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 16th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, July 1st. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 10th.

New Jersey Resources has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 29 consecutive years. New Jersey Resources has a payout ratio of 57.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect New Jersey Resources to earn $3.12 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 57.7%.

New Jersey Resources Trading Down 0.1 %

NJR stock traded down $0.03 during trading on Friday, reaching $49.67. The company had a trading volume of 415,533 shares, compared to its average volume of 527,052. The business has a 50 day moving average of $48.05 and a 200 day moving average of $47.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The company has a market cap of $4.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.96 and a beta of 0.58. New Jersey Resources has a 52 week low of $41.58 and a 52 week high of $51.95.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.15. New Jersey Resources had a return on equity of 15.72% and a net margin of 18.25%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that New Jersey Resources will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Roberto Bel sold 1,173 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $58,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 22,649 shares in the company, valued at $1,132,450. This represents a 4.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on NJR shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of New Jersey Resources in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a "hold" rating and a $51.00 target price for the company. New Street Research set a $51.00 price target on New Jersey Resources in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of New Jersey Resources from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of New Jersey Resources from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of New Jersey Resources from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, New Jersey Resources has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $51.50.

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.