Head to Head Comparison: NewJersey Resources Corporation (NJR) & South Jersey Industries (SJI)

NewJersey Resources Corporation (NYSE: NJR) and South Jersey Industries (NYSE:SJI) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, dividends, earnings, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Risk and Volatility

NewJersey Resources Corporation has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its stock price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, South Jersey Industries has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares NewJersey Resources Corporation and South Jersey Industries’ top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NewJersey Resources Corporation	$2.20 billion	1.72	$321.77 million	$2.23	19.64
South Jersey Industries	$1.22 billion	2.32	$261.72 million	$1.07	33.27

NewJersey Resources Corporation has higher revenue and earnings than South Jersey Industries. NewJersey Resources Corporation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than South Jersey Industries, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares NewJersey Resources Corporation and South Jersey Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NewJersey Resources Corporation	8.81%	12.77%	4.10%
South Jersey Industries	7.02%	7.71%	2.68%

Dividends

NewJersey Resources Corporation pays an annual dividend of $1.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. South Jersey Industries pays an annual dividend of $1.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. NewJersey Resources Corporation pays out 45.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. South Jersey Industries pays out 101.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. NewJersey Resources Corporation has raised its dividend for 21 consecutive years.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

65.0% of NewJersey Resources Corporation shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.3% of South Jersey Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of NewJersey Resources Corporation shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of South Jersey Industries shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for NewJersey Resources Corporation and South Jersey Industries, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NewJersey Resources Corporation	1	1	2	0	2.25
South Jersey Industries	0	3	3	0	2.50

NewJersey Resources Corporation currently has a consensus target price of $38.00, indicating a potential downside of 13.24%. South Jersey Industries has a consensus target price of $38.33, indicating a potential upside of 7.68%. Given South Jersey Industries’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe South Jersey Industries is more favorable than NewJersey Resources Corporation.

Summary

NewJersey Resources Corporation beats South Jersey Industries on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NewJersey Resources Corporation

New Jersey Resources Corporation is an energy services holding company. The Company’s business is the distribution of natural gas through a regulated utility, which provides other retail and wholesale energy services to customers and investing in clean energy projects and midstream assets. It operates in four business segments: Natural Gas Distribution, Clean Energy Ventures, Energy Services and Midstream. The Natural Gas Distribution segment consists of regulated natural gas services, off-system sales, capacity and storage management operations. The Energy Services segment consists of unregulated wholesale energy operations. The Clean Energy Ventures segment consists of capital investments in clean energy projects. The Midstream segment consists of investments in the midstream natural gas market, such as natural gas transportation and storage facilities. The Home Services and Other operations consist of heating, cooling and water appliance sales and installations, among others.

About South Jersey Industries

South Jersey Industries, Inc. (SJI) is an energy services holding company. The Company provides a range of energy-related products and services, primarily through its subsidiaries. Its subsidiaries include South Jersey Gas Company (SJG), South Jersey Energy Company (SJE), South Jersey Resources Group, LLC (SJRG), South Jersey Exploration, LLC (SJEX), Marina Energy, LLC (Marina), South Jersey Energy Service Plus, LLC (SJESP) and SJI Midstream, LLC (Midstream). Its segments include Gas utility operations (SJG), which consist primarily of natural gas distribution; Wholesale energy operations, which include the activities of SJRG and SJEX; SJE, which is involved in both retail gas and retail electric activities; On-Site energy production, which consists of Marina’s thermal energy facility; Appliance service operations, which include SJESP, and Corporate and Services segment, which includes the activities of Midstream.