New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) Declares $0.42 Quarterly Dividend

New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 12th will be given a dividend of 0.42 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, July 1st. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 12th.

New Jersey Resources has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 28 consecutive years. New Jersey Resources has a payout ratio of 58.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect New Jersey Resources to earn $2.88 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 58.3%.

New Jersey Resources Price Performance

NJR opened at $43.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.77 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33. New Jersey Resources has a twelve month low of $38.92 and a twelve month high of $53.90. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.46.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.89 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $467.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $812.66 million. New Jersey Resources had a return on equity of 11.13% and a net margin of 13.96%. New Jersey Resources’s revenue was down 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that New Jersey Resources will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NJR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of New Jersey Resources from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of New Jersey Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of New Jersey Resources in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 71.2% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the period. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of New Jersey Resources in the 2nd quarter valued at about $73,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 264.7% in the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 1,191 shares during the period. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of New Jersey Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at about $201,000. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.