Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys New Stake in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 27,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,221,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of NJR. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in New Jersey Resources by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,564,868 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $469,881,000 after buying an additional 373,802 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its stake in New Jersey Resources by 876.0% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 114,858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,667,000 after buying an additional 103,090 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in New Jersey Resources by 4,358.0% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 94,108 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,195,000 after buying an additional 91,997 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in New Jersey Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,212,000. Finally, UBS Group AG lifted its stake in New Jersey Resources by 149.4% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 121,182 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,924,000 after buying an additional 72,585 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho cut their price target on 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 upgraded New Jersey Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th.

New Jersey Resources Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NJR opened at $43.53 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $42.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.70. The company has a market capitalization of $4.28 billion, a PE ratio of 17.84 and a beta of 0.64. New Jersey Resources Co. has a fifty-two week low of $38.92 and a fifty-two week high of $53.55.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by ($0.15). The firm 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

New Jersey Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 12th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.86%. New Jersey Resources’s payout ratio is 68.85%.

New Jersey Resources 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.