ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Shares of ONE Gas, Inc. (NYSE:OGS) reached a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $84.11 and last traded at $83.37, with a volume of 13059 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $82.75.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on OGS. Morgan Stanley restated an “underperform” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on shares of ONE Gas in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Bank of America raised their target price on ONE Gas from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of ONE Gas from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Weiss Ratings lowered ONE Gas from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of ONE Gas from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ONE Gas presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.57.

ONE Gas Stock Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.23. The company has a market capitalization of $4.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.44. The company had revenue of $379.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $404.19 million. ONE Gas had a net margin of 10.76% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.34 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ONE Gas, Inc. will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONE Gas Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th will be given a $0.68 dividend. This is a positive change from ONE Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. ONE Gas’s payout ratio is 62.47%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ONE Gas

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ONE Gas by 238.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 2,371 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,670 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in ONE Gas by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 220,651 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,856,000 after acquiring an additional 16,249 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in ONE Gas during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,542,000. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its position in ONE Gas by 80.0% in the 2nd quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 18,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,307,000 after purchasing an additional 8,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in ONE Gas in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,109,000. 88.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About ONE Gas

ONE Gas, Inc is a publicly traded natural gas utility company focused on the regulated distribution of natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the company owns and operates an integrated system of transmission and distribution pipelines, storage facilities and compressor stations designed to deliver safe, reliable energy to end users. Its operations are governed by state utility commissions, which set rates and service standards in the markets the company serves.

The company’s service territory spans three states: Oklahoma, Kansas and the Texas Panhandle.