Centiva Capital LP Takes $554,000 Position in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Centiva Capital LP bought a new position in shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 11,734 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $554,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of NJR. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in New Jersey Resources during the third quarter worth $27,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of New Jersey Resources during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of New Jersey Resources during the second quarter worth about $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 119.5% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,214 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp bought a new position in New Jersey Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at about $52,000. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

New Jersey Resources Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE NJR opened at $49.18 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $47.59 and its 200-day moving average is $45.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.84 and a beta of 0.63. New Jersey Resources Co. has a one year low of $39.44 and a one year high of $51.94.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last released its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.97 million. New Jersey Resources had a net margin of 16.13% and a return on equity of 13.54%. The company’s revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

New Jersey Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.66%. New Jersey Resources’s payout ratio is presently 61.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NJR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on New Jersey Resources from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com upgraded New Jersey Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim raised their price objective on New Jersey Resources from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of New Jersey Resources from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of New Jersey Resources from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.75.

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.