California Public Employees Retirement System Purchases 166,234 Shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 19.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,004,904 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 166,234 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.17% of ONEOK worth $70,564,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new position in shares of ONEOK during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC grew its position in ONEOK by 90.7% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its position in ONEOK by 605.1% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 478 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. grew its position in ONEOK by 283.5% during the 4th quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC grew its position in ONEOK by 1,690.9% during the 3rd quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC now owns 591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 558 shares during the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at ONEOK

In other news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith acquired 2,700 shares of ONEOK stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $75.25 per share, with a total value of $203,175.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at $203,175. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

ONEOK Stock Performance

Shares of OKE opened at $81.38 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $47.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.66, a PEG ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 1.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $77.60 and a 200 day moving average of $71.54. ONEOK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.91 and a 12 month high of $81.81.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by ($0.03). The business 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 previous year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

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

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.99 per share. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OKE has been the topic of a number of research reports. US Capital Advisors lowered ONEOK from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Wolfe Research upgraded ONEOK from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Raymond James upped their price target on ONEOK from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on ONEOK from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.25.

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.