Wright Investors Service Inc. Reduces Stock Position in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Wright Investors Service Inc. lessened its stake in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 14.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,324 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,366 shares during the quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $2,691,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in OKE. Regal Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of ONEOK by 3.6% during the third quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,631 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $294,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 5.0% in the third quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 3,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 0.8% in the second quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 21,637 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,335,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on OKE. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of ONEOK from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of ONEOK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of ONEOK from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, ONEOK presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.25.

ONEOK Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of OKE traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $77.86. 411,502 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,009,230. The firm has a market cap of $45.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.00, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.65. ONEOK, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.91 and a 12-month high of $80.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $76.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.86.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Activity at ONEOK

In other news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith acquired 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $75.25 per share, for a total transaction 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 acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.