Everett Harris & Co. CA Lowers Position in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Everett Harris & Co. CA lessened its position in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 113,118 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,587 shares during the quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $7,943,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in OKE. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in ONEOK by 275.5% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 2,091 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its stake in ONEOK by 6.6% during the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 5,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in ONEOK by 500.5% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 167,226 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,812,000 after buying an additional 139,379 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC raised its stake in ONEOK by 20.7% during the first quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 161,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,422,000 after buying an additional 27,697 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC purchased a new position in ONEOK during the first quarter valued at $614,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on ONEOK from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded ONEOK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com upgraded ONEOK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on ONEOK from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded ONEOK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Monday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $81.73.

ONEOK Stock Performance

Shares of OKE opened at $80.17 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $73.35 and a 200 day moving average of $69.49. ONEOK, Inc. has a one year low of $55.91 and a one year high of $80.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.45, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.65.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.21 by ($0.03). ONEOK had a net margin of 15.04% and a return on equity of 22.57%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.63 EPS for the current year.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 30th were issued a dividend of $0.99 per share. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, January 29th. This is a positive change from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. ONEOK’s payout ratio is currently 71.35%.

ONEOK declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 17th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the utilities provider to reacquire up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at ONEOK

In related news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith purchased 2,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $75.25 per share, with a total value of $203,175.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 2,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,175. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.65% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About ONEOK

ONEOK, Inc engages in gathering, processing, fractionation, storage, transportation, and marketing of natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) in the United States. It operates through four segments: Natural Gas Gathering and Processing, Natural Gas Liquids, Natural Gas Pipelines, and Refined Products and Crude.