ONEOK Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:OKE)

ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders purchased 19,356 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 174% compared to the typical volume of 7,057 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OKE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of ONEOK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of ONEOK from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of ONEOK from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $87.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. UBS Group cut their price objective on ONEOK from $114.00 to $103.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ONEOK in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $87.53.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ONEOK

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in OKE. National Pension Service grew its holdings in ONEOK by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 857,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $62,605,000 after buying an additional 24,003 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. increased its position in ONEOK by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. now owns 87,667 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,397,000 after acquiring an additional 22,282 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in ONEOK by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 777,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,885,000 after acquiring an additional 54,444 shares in the last quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC raised its stake in ONEOK by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 188,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,780,000 after acquiring an additional 55,024 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in ONEOK by 29.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 534,285 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,401,000 after acquiring an additional 121,891 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

ONEOK Price Performance

ONEOK stock opened at $89.22 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.46, a P/E/G ratio of 6.73 and a beta of 0.93. ONEOK has a 12-month low of $64.02 and a 12-month high of $103.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $82.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.17.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $9.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.77 billion. ONEOK had a net margin of 10.09% and a return on equity of 15.29%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.57 earnings per share. ONEOK has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.040-5.870 EPS. Equities analysts predict that ONEOK will post 5.07 earnings per share for the current year.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 2nd were issued a $1.07 dividend. This is a boost from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 2nd. This represents a $4.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.8%. ONEOK’s payout ratio is presently 78.97%.

ONEOK Company Profile

ONEOK, Inc (NYSE: OKE) is a publicly traded midstream energy company headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The company owns and operates a portfolio of natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) pipelines, processing facilities, fractionators and storage and terminal assets. Its operations are focused on gathering, processing, transporting, fractionating and marketing NGLs and interstate natural gas, providing critical infrastructure that connects hydrocarbon production to refineries, petrochemical plants and other end markets.

ONEOK’s asset base includes pipeline systems and processing plants that move and condition natural gas, along with infrastructure for the transportation, storage and fractionation of NGLs such as ethane, propane and butane.