Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 3,255 Shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Retirement Systems of Alabama decreased its stake in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 128,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,255 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $9,015,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peoples Bank KS bought a new position in ONEOK in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its position in ONEOK by 90.7% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of ONEOK during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 605.1% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 478 shares during the period. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. grew its stake in shares of ONEOK by 283.5% in the fourth quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith bought 2,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $75.25 per share, with a total value of $203,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at $203,175. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

ONEOK Stock Up 0.4 %

OKE stock opened at $77.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.70. ONEOK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.91 and a fifty-two week high of $81.81. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.95. The company has a market cap of $45.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 1.64.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.03. ONEOK had a return on equity of 15.94% and a net margin of 12.54%. The company had revenue of $4.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.84 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.34 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the utilities provider to repurchase up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.13%. ONEOK’s payout ratio is 92.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on ONEOK from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of ONEOK from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of ONEOK from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of ONEOK from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat, ONEOK has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.58.

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.