Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Buys New Position in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC purchased a new stake in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 25,139 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,187,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 2.8% during the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 9,357 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 3.6% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,840 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 1.0% during the third quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 34,316 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,620,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 0.9% during the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 46,847 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,010,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 2.4% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 20,514 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $968,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NJR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho raised their price target on New Jersey Resources from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com lowered New Jersey Resources from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on New Jersey Resources from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on New Jersey Resources from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $49.00.

New Jersey Resources Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE NJR traded up $0.52 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $45.69. 399,464 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 486,330. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.12 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.91. New Jersey Resources Co. has a twelve month low of $39.44 and a twelve month high of $48.68.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.02) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $275.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $283.56 million. New Jersey Resources had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 13.61%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

New Jersey Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.94%. This is a positive change from New Jersey Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. New Jersey Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.31%.

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.