New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) Price Target Lowered to $52.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) had its target price reduced by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $54.00 to $52.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 8.36% from the company’s current price.

NJR has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Guggenheim upped their price objective on New Jersey Resources from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of New Jersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of New Jersey Resources from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.50.

New Jersey Resources Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of New Jersey Resources stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $47.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 31,386 shares, compared to its average volume of 502,489. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.62. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.77. New Jersey Resources has a 52 week low of $39.44 and a 52 week high of $51.94. The company has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a PE ratio of 16.43 and a beta of 0.64.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.89. The company had revenue of $395.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.97 million. New Jersey Resources had a net margin of 16.13% and a return on equity of 13.54%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that New Jersey Resources will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other New Jersey Resources news, COO Patrick J. Migliaccio sold 4,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total value of $229,218.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 37,124 shares in the company, valued at $1,707,704. The trade was a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On New Jersey Resources

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,366,381 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $111,714,000 after buying an additional 34,782 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in New Jersey Resources by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,227,815 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,953,000 after buying an additional 33,772 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of New Jersey Resources by 16.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 609,199 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,754,000 after acquiring an additional 86,742 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 422,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,918,000 after buying an additional 17,664 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of New Jersey Resources by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 225,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,988 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.