Kestra Investment Management LLC Invests $497,000 in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 10,652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $497,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NJR. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of New Jersey Resources during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of New Jersey Resources during the third quarter worth $27,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of New Jersey Resources during the third quarter worth $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling at New Jersey Resources

In other news, COO Patrick J. Migliaccio sold 4,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total transaction of $229,218.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 37,124 shares in the company, valued at $1,707,704. The trade was a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

New Jersey Resources Trading Up 1.4 %

NJR opened at $46.29 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. New Jersey Resources Co. has a 12 month low of $40.51 and a 12 month high of $51.94. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.94 and a beta of 0.63.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period last year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

New Jersey Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.89%. New Jersey Resources’s payout ratio is currently 54.22%.

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.