ONE Gas, Inc. (NYSE:OGS) Increases Dividend to $0.67 Per Share

ONE Gas, Inc. (NYSE:OGS) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 21st,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of 0.67 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. This is a boost from ONE Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66.

ONE Gas has increased its dividend by an average of 4.4% per year over the last three years. ONE Gas has a payout ratio of 58.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect ONE Gas to earn $4.26 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.0%.

ONE Gas Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:OGS traded down $0.45 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $72.30. 393,717 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 395,626. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $72.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.93. ONE Gas has a 52-week low of $57.74 and a 52-week high of $78.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market cap of $4.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.91 and a beta of 0.71.

ONE Gas (NYSE:OGS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.05). ONE Gas had a net margin of 10.52% and a return on equity of 7.71%. The firm had revenue of $340.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $287.48 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that ONE Gas will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on OGS. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of ONE Gas from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of ONE Gas from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of ONE Gas in a research note on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $79.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of ONE Gas in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price target on the stock. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded shares of ONE Gas from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $75.50 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.69.

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.