Creative Planning Has $968,000 Position in New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Creative Planning grew its position in shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 481 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in New Jersey Resources were worth $968,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 192.9% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 387,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,581,000 after buying an additional 255,503 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC raised its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 54.9% in the 1st quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 537,636 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $23,070,000 after purchasing an additional 190,500 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in New Jersey Resources by 65.5% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 480,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,623,000 after buying an additional 190,028 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 39.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 618,379 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,430,000 after purchasing an additional 176,396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,956,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $126,372,000 after acquiring an additional 154,441 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on NJR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on New Jersey Resources from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com cut New Jersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on New Jersey Resources from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on New Jersey Resources from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.00.

New Jersey Resources Stock Performance

NYSE NJR opened at $45.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $46.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.82. The company has a market capitalization of $4.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.93 and a beta of 0.59. New Jersey Resources Co. has a 1-year low of $39.44 and a 1-year high of $48.68.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by ($0.07). New Jersey Resources had a net margin of 13.61% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The firm had revenue of $275.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $283.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. New Jersey Resources’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

New Jersey Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 23rd. This is a positive change from New Jersey Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.98%. New Jersey Resources’s payout ratio is 75.31%.

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.