New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.45

New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 7th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of 0.45 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.88%.

New Jersey Resources has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 29 consecutive years. New Jersey Resources has a dividend payout ratio of 62.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect New Jersey Resources to earn $2.89 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.3%.

New Jersey Resources Price Performance

NJR opened at $46.38 on Friday. New Jersey Resources has a twelve month low of $39.44 and a twelve month high of $48.68. The firm has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.93.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by ($0.07). New Jersey Resources had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 13.61%. The business had revenue of $275.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $283.56 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that New Jersey Resources will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on NJR shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of New Jersey Resources from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of New Jersey Resources from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on New Jersey Resources from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered New Jersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, New Jersey Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

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.