ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) Trading Up 2.2% – Time to Buy?

ONE Gas, Inc. (NYSE:OGS) shares traded up 2.2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $75.29 and last traded at $75.35. 86,624 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 375,147 shares. The stock had previously closed at $73.73.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on ONE Gas from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of ONE Gas in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of ONE Gas from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of ONE Gas to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on ONE Gas from $79.00 to $76.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.44.

ONE Gas Stock Up 3.2 %

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.55 billion, a PE ratio of 19.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.66.

ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. ONE Gas had a return on equity of 7.70% and a net margin of 10.70%. The business had revenue of $630.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $973.58 million. Analysts anticipate that ONE Gas, Inc. will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONE Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 positive change from ONE Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. ONE Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in ONE Gas by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,270,804 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $434,253,000 after acquiring an additional 41,933 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of ONE Gas by 22.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,470,618 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $258,283,000 after buying an additional 645,566 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of ONE Gas by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,124,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $147,152,000 after buying an additional 25,145 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in ONE Gas by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,354,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $100,836,000 after buying an additional 18,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in ONE Gas by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,058,507 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,302,000 after buying an additional 9,302 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.71% of the company’s stock.

ONE Gas Company Profile

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.