ONE Gas, Inc. (NYSE:OGS) Short Interest Down 27.5% in December

ONE Gas, Inc. (NYSE:OGS) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,580,000 shares, a decrease of 27.5% from the December 15th total of 3,560,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 380,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.8 days.

Institutional Trading of ONE Gas

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in ONE Gas during the third quarter worth about $3,135,000. Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of ONE Gas by 113.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 22,681 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,688,000 after purchasing an additional 12,060 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew 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 worth $4,539,000 after purchasing an additional 42,724 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ONE Gas by 2.6% in 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. Finally, 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 valued at $100,836,000 after purchasing an additional 18,477 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on OGS. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on ONE Gas from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut ONE Gas from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $75.50 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of ONE Gas in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of ONE Gas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of ONE Gas in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $79.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.69.

ONE Gas Price Performance

OGS stock traded up $0.87 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $70.77. The company had a trading volume of 428,240 shares, compared to its average volume of 382,182. The business has a 50 day moving average of $72.24 and a 200 day moving average of $70.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.43 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. ONE Gas has a fifty-two week low of $57.74 and a fifty-two week high of $78.89.

ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.05). ONE Gas had a return on equity of 7.71% and a net margin of 10.52%. The company had revenue of $340.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $287.48 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that ONE Gas will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

ONE Gas Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a dividend of $0.66 per share. This represents a $2.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. ONE Gas’s payout ratio is currently 68.75%.

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.