Bleakley Financial Group LLC Buys 422 Shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its stake in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,345 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 422 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $797,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of ONEOK by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 21,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,531,000 after purchasing an additional 3,032 shares during the period. ELCO Management Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of ONEOK by 102.3% in the 3rd quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 26,432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 13,367 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in shares of ONEOK by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 7,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $490,000 after purchasing an additional 790 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,460,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Insight Folios Inc acquired a new position in shares of ONEOK in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,998,000. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on OKE. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on ONEOK from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup boosted their target price on ONEOK from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Wolfe Research raised ONEOK from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Seaport Res Ptn raised ONEOK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on ONEOK from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $81.73.

ONEOK Stock Performance

OKE stock opened at $78.70 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $75.79 and its 200-day moving average is $70.54. 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 has a market cap of $45.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.65. ONEOK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.91 and a twelve month high of $80.81.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. ONEOK had a net margin of 15.04% and a return on equity of 22.57%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 30th were given a $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 29th. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.03%. This is a boost from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.35%.

ONEOK declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 17th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the utilities provider to reacquire up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at ONEOK

In other news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith acquired 2,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $75.25 per share, for a total transaction of $203,175.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at $203,175. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.65% of the stock is 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.