Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Takes Position in ONE Gas, Inc. (NYSE:OGS)

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in ONE Gas, Inc. (NYSE:OGS) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 10,160 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $704,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of ONE Gas by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,270,804 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $434,253,000 after buying an additional 41,933 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in ONE Gas by 22.9% during 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in ONE Gas by 1.4% in the 3rd 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 period. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its position 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 valued at $73,302,000 after purchasing an additional 9,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of ONE Gas by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 864,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $59,849,000 after purchasing an additional 152,028 shares during the period. 88.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

ONE Gas Stock Performance

ONE Gas stock opened at $73.66 on Friday. ONE Gas, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $58.31 and a fifty-two week high of $78.89. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.84, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.74.

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, meeting 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, analysts expect that ONE Gas, Inc. will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONE Gas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.64%. This is a positive change from ONE Gas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. ONE Gas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on OGS shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of ONE Gas to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of ONE Gas from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of ONE Gas from $79.00 to $76.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com upgraded ONE Gas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on ONE Gas in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $77.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.44.

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.