NewJersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) Rating Increased to Outperform at Mizuho

Mizuho upgraded shares of NewJersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note released on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Mizuho currently has $54.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $51.00.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on NJR. New Street Research set a $54.00 price objective on shares of NewJersey Resources in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $53.00 target price on shares of NewJersey Resources in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Weiss Ratings downgraded NewJersey Resources from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered NewJersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.86.

NewJersey Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NewJersey Resources stock opened at $47.58 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $46.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.17. NewJersey Resources has a 52 week low of $43.46 and a 52 week high of $50.76. The company has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29 and a beta of 0.61.

NewJersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 19th. The utilities provider reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $336.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $307.30 million. NewJersey Resources had a return on equity of 13.73% and a net margin of 16.48%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. NewJersey Resources has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.030-3.180 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that NewJersey Resources will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

NewJersey Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. NewJersey Resources’s payout ratio is 57.06%.

Institutional Trading of NewJersey Resources

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NJR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in NewJersey Resources by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,566,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $171,717,000 after purchasing an additional 130,831 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in NewJersey Resources by 0.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,545,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $114,097,000 after buying an additional 16,954 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in NewJersey Resources by 1.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,335,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $64,297,000 after buying an additional 14,512 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in NewJersey Resources in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $52,671,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in NewJersey Resources by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,158,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,792,000 after buying an additional 111,696 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

NewJersey 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.