Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) Stock

ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) had its price objective boosted by Morgan Stanley from $69.00 to $71.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of ONE Gas from $82.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of ONE Gas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of ONE Gas from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of ONE Gas to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of ONE Gas from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.64.

ONE Gas Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:OGS opened at $71.70 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. ONE Gas has a 12 month low of $59.80 and a 12 month high of $82.25. The company has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a PE ratio of 17.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.20.

ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.13. ONE Gas had a net margin of 10.75% and a return on equity of 8.15%. The business had revenue of $935.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $882.31 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that ONE Gas will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

ONE Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. ONE Gas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.73%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of OGS. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in ONE Gas in the 4th quarter worth $369,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in ONE Gas by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,168,000 after buying an additional 1,383 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in ONE Gas by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 208,298 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,425,000 after buying an additional 3,828 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in ONE Gas in the 4th quarter worth $1,333,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in ONE Gas by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 175,685 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,166,000 after buying an additional 3,750 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.71% of the company’s stock.

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.