ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) Shares Sold by Albion Financial Group UT

Albion Financial Group UT lessened its stake in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 466 shares during the quarter. Albion Financial Group UT’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $312,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of OKE. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew 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 valued at $1,482,363,000 after buying an additional 22,543,516 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in ONEOK by 10.3% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Cowa LLC lifted its stake in shares of ONEOK by 9,775.0% during the 1st quarter. Cowa LLC now owns 5,324,428 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,761,000 after purchasing an additional 5,270,510 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,636,660 shares during the period. Finally, Blackstone Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $226,973,000 after purchasing an additional 3,478,316 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at ONEOK

In other ONEOK news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith bought 2,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $75.25 per share, with a total value of $203,175.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,175. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on OKE shares. Mizuho increased their target price on ONEOK from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on ONEOK from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Seaport Res Ptn raised ONEOK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Wolfe Research raised ONEOK from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $81.73.

ONEOK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:OKE traded down $0.95 on Wednesday, hitting $78.92. 586,332 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,992,590. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $75.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.33. ONEOK, Inc. has a one year low of $55.91 and a one year high of $80.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.39, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.65.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). ONEOK had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 15.04%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Research analysts expect that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.62 earnings per share for the current year.

ONEOK declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the utilities provider to repurchase up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 30th were paid a $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 29th. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.02%. This is a boost from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. ONEOK’s payout ratio is presently 71.35%.

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.