Edgestream Partners L.P. Buys New Holdings in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 25,109 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,171,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of New Jersey Resources during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in New Jersey Resources during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in New Jersey Resources by 9,400.0% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 658 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in New Jersey Resources by 69.8% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 839 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the period. Finally, Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of New Jersey Resources in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of New Jersey Resources from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com raised New Jersey Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on New Jersey Resources from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on New Jersey Resources from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other New Jersey Resources news, COO Patrick J. Migliaccio sold 4,983 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total transaction of $229,218.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 37,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,707,704. This represents a 11.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

New Jersey Resources Stock Performance

New Jersey Resources stock opened at $48.60 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $46.97 and a 200-day moving average of $47.16. The stock has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.64 and a beta of 0.57. New Jersey Resources Co. has a 52 week low of $40.62 and a 52 week high of $51.94.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.15. New Jersey Resources had a net margin of 18.25% and a return on equity of 15.72%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

New Jersey Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. New Jersey Resources’s payout ratio is currently 54.22%.

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.