ONE Gas, Inc. (NYSE:OGS) Shares Bought by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ONE Gas, Inc. (NYSE:OGS) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 718,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,604 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in ONE Gas were worth $49,759,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of ONE Gas by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,139,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in ONE Gas by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,615 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,497,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of ONE Gas by 42.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of ONE Gas by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 28,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,994,000 after buying an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of ONE Gas by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 15,359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the period. 88.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OGS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America began coverage on shares of ONE Gas in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $77.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of ONE Gas from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of ONE Gas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised ONE Gas to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on ONE Gas from $79.00 to $76.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.44.

ONE Gas Trading Down 3.5 %

ONE Gas stock opened at $73.66 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 quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.68.

ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The company had revenue of $630.70 million for 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ONE Gas, Inc. will post 4.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ONE Gas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This is a boost from ONE Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. ONE Gas’s payout ratio is 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.