ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) Shares Purchased by Strs Ohio

Strs Ohio boosted its holdings in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 12.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,796 shares during the period. Strs Ohio’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $1,717,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in ONEOK by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 21,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,531,000 after buying an additional 3,032 shares during the last quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC increased its position in ONEOK by 102.3% during the 3rd quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 26,432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 13,367 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its position in ONEOK by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 7,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $490,000 after purchasing an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in ONEOK by 1.5% in the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,460,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the period. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in ONEOK by 32.1% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 72,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,084,000 after buying an additional 17,612 shares in the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on OKE. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of ONEOK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of ONEOK from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.25.

Insider Activity at ONEOK

In related news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith purchased 2,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $75.25 per share, with a total value of $203,175.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,175. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

ONEOK Price Performance

Shares of OKE stock opened at $79.63 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $46.48 billion, a PE ratio of 14.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 1.65. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.97%. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.35%.

ONEOK announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 17th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding 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 usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.