ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) Coverage Initiated at Bank of America

Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) in a report published on Friday. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $77.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on ONE Gas from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised 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. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded shares of ONE Gas from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $75.50 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on ONE Gas in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $79.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on ONE Gas from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ONE Gas currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.69.

ONE Gas Stock Performance

NYSE OGS opened at $70.38 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.33 and a beta of 0.70. ONE Gas has a 1-year low of $57.74 and a 1-year high of $78.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.05). ONE Gas had a net margin of 10.52% and a return on equity of 7.71%. The business had revenue of $340.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $287.48 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that ONE Gas will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

ONE Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were issued a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. ONE Gas’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.75%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ONE Gas

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in OGS. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in ONE Gas by 22.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,470,618 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $258,283,000 after purchasing an additional 645,566 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in ONE Gas by 320.2% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 402,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,980,000 after acquiring an additional 306,974 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in ONE Gas by 6.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,598,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,590,000 after acquiring an additional 272,923 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in ONE Gas by 9,036.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 202,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,061,000 after acquiring an additional 200,168 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of ONE Gas during the second quarter valued at approximately $12,594,000. 88.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.