John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Sells 1,300 Shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 132,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in New Jersey Resources were worth $5,927,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $469,881,000 after acquiring an additional 373,802 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of New Jersey Resources in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,738,000. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 7,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 906 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 56.3% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 24,112 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $980,000 after acquiring an additional 8,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mattern Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 22.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 163,683 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,650,000 after acquiring an additional 29,492 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

New Jersey Resources Trading Up 2.4 %

NJR traded up $1.03 on Friday, reaching $43.22. 221,762 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 507,292. New Jersey Resources Co. has a one year low of $38.92 and a one year high of $53.90. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.43. The company has a market cap of $4.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.30 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $467.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $812.66 million. New Jersey Resources had a net margin of 13.96% and a return on equity of 11.13%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current year.

New Jersey Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. New Jersey Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of 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 shares of New Jersey Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th.

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.