Sound Income Strategies LLC Sells 992 Shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Sound Income Strategies LLC cut its position in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) by 26.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 992 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in New Jersey Resources were worth $131,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in New Jersey Resources by 13.7% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 5,478 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 10,061 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $430,000 after buying an additional 1,021 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in New Jersey Resources in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $384,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in New Jersey Resources by 52.0% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 23,251 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $994,000 after buying an additional 7,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in New Jersey Resources by 58.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 11,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $483,000 after acquiring an additional 4,166 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

New Jersey Resources Price Performance

New Jersey Resources stock opened at $46.91 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.71. New Jersey Resources Co. has a 52 week low of $39.44 and a 52 week high of $51.94. The stock has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.06 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.89. New Jersey Resources had a net margin of 16.13% and a return on equity of 13.54%. The company had revenue of $395.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $406.97 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.30 earnings per share. New Jersey Resources’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

New Jersey Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. New Jersey Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on NJR. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. 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 note on Wednesday, November 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised New Jersey Resources from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $52.00 to $54.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of New Jersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.00.

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.