ONE Gas down after $198 mln equity offering priced

Shares of ONE Gas OGS.N down 1.5% premarket at $78.55 on very light trading volume after follow-on priced

Tulsa, Oklahoma-based regulated natural gas utility late Thurs announced 2.5 mln shares for ~$197.5 mln gross proceeds

Offering priced at $79, 0.9% discount to stock's last sale of $79.71

Co entered into forward sale agreement with sole underwriter JP Morgan

Upon settlement of forward sale agreement, expected to occur no later than Dec 31, 2016, co to use net proceeds for general purposes, including debt repayment/refinancing, construction and acquisition expenditures

Forward sale format allows OGS to lock in current prices and delays issuing new shares and harvesting proceeds until it needs the funds, thus avoiding immediate earnings-per-share dilution

With ~59.9 mln shares outstanding, co has $4.8 bln market cap

Through Thurs, OGS shares up 15% YTD and up roughly 25% over the past 12 months

Of 9 analysts covering OGS, 3 rate stock "strong buy" or "buy", 5 rate "hold" while 1 recommends "sell"; median PT is $74 - LSEG data