Cerity Partners LLC Buys 45,039 Shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 56.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 124,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 45,039 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $8,734,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in ONEOK by 118,109.3% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 22,562,603 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,482,363,000 after purchasing an additional 22,543,516 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in ONEOK by 10.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,237,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,757,405,000 after buying an additional 5,525,010 shares during the period. Cowa LLC boosted its stake in ONEOK by 9,775.0% in the first quarter. Cowa LLC now owns 5,324,428 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,761,000 after acquiring an additional 5,270,510 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in ONEOK by 37.7% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 13,292,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $843,133,000 after acquiring an additional 3,636,660 shares during the period. Finally, Blackstone Inc. raised its position in shares of ONEOK by 3,478.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 3,578,316 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $226,973,000 after acquiring an additional 3,478,316 shares during the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ONEOK news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith bought 2,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $75.25 per share, for a total transaction of $203,175.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,175. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

ONEOK Stock Performance

NYSE OKE opened at $78.70 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $45.93 billion, a PE ratio of 14.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.90. ONEOK, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.91 and a 52-week high of $80.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $75.79 and a 200-day moving average of $70.63.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its 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). ONEOK had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 15.04%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

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

ONEOK Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OKE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on ONEOK from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. US Capital Advisors cut ONEOK from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Wolfe Research raised shares of ONEOK from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of ONEOK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. One investment 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 MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $81.73.

ONEOK 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.