Van ECK Associates Corp Buys 1,383 Shares of ONE Gas, Inc. (NYSE:OGS)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in ONE Gas, Inc. (NYSE:OGS) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,383 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in ONE Gas were worth $1,168,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of ONE Gas in the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,135,000. Pathstone Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of ONE Gas by 113.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 22,681 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,688,000 after acquiring an additional 12,060 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its stake in shares of ONE Gas by 234.1% in the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 60,976 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,539,000 after acquiring an additional 42,724 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in ONE Gas by 41.0% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 645 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in ONE Gas by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 758,378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,438,000 after purchasing an additional 18,889 shares in the last quarter. 88.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on ONE Gas from $79.00 to $76.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on ONE Gas from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. 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 note on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America assumed coverage on ONE Gas in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 target price for the company. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut ONE Gas from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $75.50 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, ONE Gas has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.31.

ONE Gas Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:OGS opened at $73.08 on Friday. ONE Gas, Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.74 and a twelve month high of $78.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $70.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.47. The company has a market cap of $4.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.72.

ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. ONE Gas had a return on equity of 7.89% and a net margin of 10.70%. The firm had revenue of $630.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $973.58 million. As a group, analysts expect that ONE Gas, Inc. will post 4.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ONE Gas Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from ONE Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. ONE Gas’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.52%.

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.