Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Acquires 12,353 Shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR - Free Report) by 59.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,276 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,353 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.'s holdings in New Jersey Resources were worth $1,552,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in shares of New Jersey Resources during the second quarter valued at $381,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in New Jersey Resources by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,956,772 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $126,372,000 after acquiring an additional 154,441 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources by 13.7% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 5,478 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $234,000 after acquiring an additional 659 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources by 11.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 10,061 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $430,000 after acquiring an additional 1,021 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL purchased a new position in shares of New Jersey Resources during the second quarter valued at approximately $479,000. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at New Jersey Resources

In related news, COO Patrick J. Migliaccio sold 4,983 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total value of $229,218.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 37,124 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,707,704. This represents a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on NJR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of New Jersey Resources from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut New Jersey Resources from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Guggenheim raised their target price on New Jersey Resources from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Mizuho boosted their price target on New Jersey Resources from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of New Jersey Resources from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. One investment 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $51.00.

New Jersey Resources Stock Performance

New Jersey Resources stock traded up $0.39 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $46.39. The company had a trading volume of 605,834 shares, compared to its average volume of 491,193. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $47.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.51. New Jersey Resources Co. has a 52 week low of $39.44 and a 52 week high of $51.94. 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 has a market capitalization of $4.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.89 and a beta of 0.64.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89. The firm had revenue of $395.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $406.97 million. New Jersey Resources had a return on equity of 13.54% and a net margin of 16.13%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

New Jersey Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%. New Jersey Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.64%.

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.