ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Wednesday.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on ONE Gas from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on ONE Gas from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ONE Gas has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.10.

ONE Gas Price Performance

OGS opened at $75.09 on Wednesday. ONE Gas has a 1 year low of $55.50 and a 1 year high of $76.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.25 billion, a PE ratio of 19.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The business’s 50-day moving average is $72.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.63.

ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.05). ONE Gas had a return on equity of 7.71% and a net margin of 10.52%. The firm 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 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that ONE Gas will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONE Gas Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 19th. ONE Gas’s payout ratio is 68.75%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OGS. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in ONE Gas by 6.3% during the 2nd 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 period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in ONE Gas by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,470,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,873,000 after acquiring an additional 10,189 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC lifted its position in ONE Gas by 52.9% during the 1st quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 1,058,680 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $68,317,000 after acquiring an additional 366,363 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its position in ONE Gas by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,049,205 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $78,082,000 after acquiring an additional 98,489 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in ONE Gas by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 897,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,308,000 after acquiring an additional 61,192 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.