ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) Upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company to Overweight

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $80.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $71.00.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of ONE Gas from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on ONE Gas from $61.00 to $58.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut ONE Gas from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Saturday, July 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $64.64.

ONE Gas Stock Performance

ONE Gas stock opened at $72.66 on Wednesday. ONE Gas has a 12-month low of $55.50 and a 12-month high of $75.89. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.66.

ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $354.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $362.06 million. ONE Gas had a return on equity of 8.04% and a net margin of 10.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.58 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that ONE Gas will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONE Gas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 14th. ONE Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.19%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ONE Gas

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of ONE Gas by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,555,206 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $99,098,000 after acquiring an additional 52,740 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ONE Gas by 37.7% during the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 197,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,590,000 after buying an additional 54,107 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in ONE Gas by 127.8% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 86,764 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,599,000 after buying an additional 48,671 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in ONE Gas in the 1st quarter valued at about $575,000. Finally, Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC bought a new stake in shares of ONE Gas during the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,736,000. 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.