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

New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th.

New Jersey Resources has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 29 years. New Jersey Resources has a payout ratio of 57.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect New Jersey Resources to earn $3.12 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 57.7%.

New Jersey Resources Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:NJR traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $46.71. The stock had a trading volume of 221,180 shares, compared to its average volume of 501,957. The business’s 50 day moving average is $47.87 and its 200-day moving average is $46.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.62. New Jersey Resources has a one year low of $39.44 and a one year high of $51.94. The company has a market cap of $4.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.98 and a beta of 0.64.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.97 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that New Jersey Resources will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on NJR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of New Jersey Resources from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of New Jersey Resources from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of New Jersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $229,218.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 37,124 shares in the company, valued at $1,707,704. This trade represents a 11.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.