New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.45

New Jersey Resources Co. (NYSE:NJR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 7th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.85%.

New Jersey Resources has increased its dividend by an average of 7.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 29 years. New Jersey Resources has a payout ratio of 62.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect New Jersey Resources to earn $2.89 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.3%.

New Jersey Resources Stock Performance

Shares of New Jersey Resources stock traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $46.79. 172,576 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 487,467. New Jersey Resources has a 12-month low of $39.44 and a 12-month high of $48.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.64 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by ($0.07). New Jersey Resources had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 13.61%. The firm had revenue of $275.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $283.56 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.10 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that New Jersey Resources will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on NJR shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on New Jersey Resources from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on New Jersey Resources from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on New Jersey Resources from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered New Jersey Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, New Jersey Resources has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

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.