Raymond James Financial Inc. Invests $2.35 Million in ONE Gas, Inc. (NYSE:OGS)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in ONE Gas, Inc. (NYSE:OGS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 33,875 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,346,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of OGS. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 645,566 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in ONE Gas by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,354,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $100,836,000 after purchasing an additional 18,477 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted 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 worth $73,302,000 after purchasing an additional 9,302 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in ONE Gas by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 783,238 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,239,000 after purchasing an additional 24,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in ONE Gas by 4.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 701,933 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,785,000 after purchasing an additional 31,045 shares during the last quarter. 88.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of ONE Gas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded ONE Gas to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on ONE Gas from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on ONE Gas from $79.00 to $76.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on ONE Gas from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, ONE Gas has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.44.

ONE Gas Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE OGS opened at $75.89 on Friday. ONE Gas, Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.31 and a 12-month high of $78.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $4.54 billion, a PE ratio of 19.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.66. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $72.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.56.

ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The company 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that ONE Gas, Inc. will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

ONE Gas Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a boost from ONE Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.53%. ONE Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

ONE Gas 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.