Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Has $18.48 Million Stock Holdings in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lowered its stake in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 396,133 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 25,867 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC’s holdings in New Jersey Resources were worth $18,480,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in NJR. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in New Jersey Resources by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,366,381 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $111,714,000 after buying an additional 34,782 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in New Jersey Resources by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,267,456 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $59,127,000 after acquiring an additional 39,641 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in New Jersey Resources by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,211,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $56,526,000 after purchasing an additional 96,393 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in New Jersey Resources by 16.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 609,199 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,754,000 after purchasing an additional 86,742 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in New Jersey Resources by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 364,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,982,000 after purchasing an additional 6,280 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Roberto Bel sold 2,346 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.58, for a total transaction of $113,968.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 23,822 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,157,272.76. This represents a 8.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

New Jersey Resources Price Performance

NJR stock opened at $47.86 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $47.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.34. New Jersey Resources Co. has a 1 year low of $40.62 and a 1 year high of $51.95. The stock has a market cap of $4.80 billion, a PE ratio of 14.42 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.15. New Jersey Resources had a return on equity of 15.72% and a net margin of 18.25%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

New Jersey Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. New Jersey Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.22%.

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.