Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 660 New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR)

Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR – Get Rating) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 660 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in New Jersey Resources by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,757,330 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $493,331,000 after acquiring an additional 111,403 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in New Jersey Resources by 25.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,205,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $458,082,000 after acquiring an additional 2,084,980 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 22.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,203,151 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $146,897,000 after purchasing an additional 589,747 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 3.4% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,018,305 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,700,000 after purchasing an additional 33,273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of New Jersey Resources by 58.9% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 703,235 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,315,000 after purchasing an additional 260,564 shares in the last quarter. 74.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at New Jersey Resources

In other New Jersey Resources news, COO Patrick J. Migliaccio sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.16, for a total transaction of $147,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 40,169 shares in the company, valued at $1,974,708.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on NJR. StockNews.com upgraded New Jersey Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 13th. Mizuho raised their price objective on New Jersey Resources from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on New Jersey Resources from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on New Jersey Resources from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price objective on New Jersey Resources from $41.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Monday, October 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, New Jersey Resources has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.50.

New Jersey Resources Trading Up 0.9 %

NJR opened at $49.54 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.63. New Jersey Resources Co. has a 12 month low of $37.79 and a 12 month high of $51.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $49.22 and a 200 day moving average of $45.70.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 17th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $765.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $602.80 million. New Jersey Resources had a return on equity of 13.56% and a net margin of 9.46%. As a group, research analysts forecast that New Jersey Resources Co. will post 2.48 EPS for the current year.

New Jersey Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 14th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 13th. This is a positive change from New Jersey Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. New Jersey Resources’s payout ratio is 54.55%.

New Jersey Resources Profile

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New Jersey Resources Corporation, an energy services holding company, provides regulated gas distribution, and retail and wholesale energy services. 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 569,300 residential and commercial customers throughout 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.