Verity & Verity LLC Increases Stake in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Verity & Verity LLC boosted its position in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 248,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,602 shares during the period. ONEOK comprises 2.3% of Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $20,229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OKE. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in ONEOK by 2,643.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,170,739 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $82,209,000 after acquiring an additional 1,128,066 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in shares of ONEOK during the first quarter valued at approximately $77,634,000. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 28.7% in the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 3,705,367 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $297,059,000 after purchasing an additional 825,464 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its holdings in ONEOK by 36.3% during the 4th quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 2,076,078 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $145,782,000 after purchasing an additional 552,824 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its position in ONEOK by 3,648.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 514,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,995,000 after purchasing an additional 501,216 shares in the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at ONEOK

In other news, Director Pattye L. Moore sold 3,379 shares of ONEOK stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.01, for a total transaction of $310,901.79. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

ONEOK Stock Up 1.3 %

ONEOK stock opened at $92.31 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.25. ONEOK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $60.58 and a 12 month high of $96.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.88 billion, a PE ratio of 21.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.71 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.41.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.12. ONEOK had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 13.41%. The business had revenue of $4.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were given a dividend of $0.99 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. ONEOK’s payout ratio is 92.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on OKE. Morgan Stanley upgraded ONEOK from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $103.00 to $111.00 in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of ONEOK from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $82.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on ONEOK from $88.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.38.

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.