Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) Stock Price

ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) had its target price raised by Morgan Stanley from $68.00 to $70.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on OGS. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded ONE Gas to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Bank of America assumed coverage on ONE Gas in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on ONE Gas from $79.00 to $76.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of ONE Gas from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of ONE Gas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ONE Gas currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.44.

ONE Gas Price Performance

Shares of NYSE OGS opened at $74.12 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $4.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.66. ONE Gas has a twelve month low of $58.31 and a twelve month high of $78.89. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.35.

ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. ONE Gas had a net margin of 10.70% and a return on equity of 7.70%. The firm had revenue of $630.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $973.58 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that ONE Gas will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

ONE Gas Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a boost from ONE Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. ONE Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

Institutional Trading of ONE Gas

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in OGS. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in ONE Gas during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of ONE Gas by 3,620.0% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 372 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of ONE Gas in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of ONE Gas in the third quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in ONE Gas by 42.0% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. 88.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About ONE Gas

ONE Gas, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a regulated natural gas distribution company in the United States. The company provides natural gas distribution services to approximately 2.3 million customers in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. It serves residential, commercial, and transportation customers.