South Jersey Industries (NYSE:SJI) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.12 EPS

South Jersey Industries (NYSE:SJI – Get Rating) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.12, MarketWatch Earnings reports. The firm had revenue of $824.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $689.67 million. South Jersey Industries had a net margin of 4.42% and a return on equity of 10.39%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share.

Shares of SJI opened at $34.18 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The firm has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a PE ratio of 19.71 and a beta of 0.71. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.03. South Jersey Industries has a 12-month low of $20.75 and a 12-month high of $35.32.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 16th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 15th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SJI. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of South Jersey Industries by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 20,005,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $522,540,000 after acquiring an additional 2,103,134 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of South Jersey Industries by 296.4% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,569,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,001,000 after acquiring an additional 1,173,695 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of South Jersey Industries by 148.8% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 807,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,096,000 after acquiring an additional 483,014 shares during the last quarter. Parametric Portfolio Associates LLC grew its position in shares of South Jersey Industries by 29.8% during the fourth quarter. Parametric Portfolio Associates LLC now owns 337,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,822,000 after acquiring an additional 77,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OLD Mission Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of South Jersey Industries during the third quarter worth approximately $892,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.30% of the company’s stock.

SJI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Guggenheim cut shares of South Jersey Industries from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 20th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of South Jersey Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 24th. Maxim Group lowered shares of South Jersey Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 25th. Bank of America lowered shares of South Jersey Industries from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 17th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of South Jersey Industries in a research note on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “sell” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, South Jersey Industries has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.00.

South Jersey Industries Company Profile (Get Rating)

South Jersey Industries, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides energy-related products and services. The company engages in the purchase, transmission, and sale of natural gas. It also sells natural gas and pipeline transportation capacity on a wholesale basis to residential, commercial, and industrial customers on the interstate pipeline system, as well as transports natural gas purchased directly from producers or suppliers to customers.

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