ONEOK, Inc. (OKE) To Go Ex-Dividend on April 30th

ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.99 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th.

ONEOK has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.7% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. ONEOK has a dividend payout ratio of 72.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect ONEOK to earn $5.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 71.7%.

ONEOK Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:OKE opened at $79.63 on Friday. ONEOK has a 12 month low of $55.91 and a 12 month high of $80.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.03. The firm has a market cap of $46.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35, a PEG ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 1.65.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by ($0.03). ONEOK had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 15.04%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that ONEOK will post 4.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on OKE. StockNews.com upgraded shares of ONEOK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of ONEOK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Wolfe Research raised shares of ONEOK from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of ONEOK from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.25.

Insider Transactions at ONEOK

In related news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith bought 2,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $75.25 per share, for a total transaction of $203,175.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,175. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of ONEOK

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Command Bank lifted its stake in shares of ONEOK by 401.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Command Bank now owns 491 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in ONEOK in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Worth Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in ONEOK in the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in ONEOK in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Retirement Group LLC raised its stake in ONEOK by 133.3% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

ONEOK announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the utilities provider to purchase up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

ONEOK Company Profile

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.