ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) Price Target Raised to $70.00

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

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on ONE Gas from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded ONE Gas to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America began coverage on ONE Gas in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded ONE Gas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ONE Gas presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.44.

ONE Gas Stock Performance

Shares of OGS stock opened at $73.11 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The business has a fifty day moving average of $72.29 and a 200 day moving average of $72.40. ONE Gas has a 1 year low of $58.31 and a 1 year high of $78.89.

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

ONE Gas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. This is a positive change from ONE Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. ONE Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $434,253,000 after purchasing an additional 41,933 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in ONE Gas by 22.9% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in ONE Gas by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,124,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $147,152,000 after purchasing an additional 25,145 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of ONE Gas by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,354,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $100,836,000 after buying an additional 18,477 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its holdings in ONE Gas by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,058,507 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $73,302,000 after acquiring an additional 9,302 shares during the last quarter. 88.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.