Private Advisor Group LLC Purchases 1,748 Shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 61,078 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,748 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $4,289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in ONEOK by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 21,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,531,000 after purchasing an additional 3,032 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in ONEOK by 26.6% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 24,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,725,000 after acquiring an additional 5,167 shares during the period. ELCO Management Co. LLC raised its position in ONEOK by 102.3% in the third quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 26,432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 13,367 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in ONEOK by 31.6% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 160,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,277,000 after purchasing an additional 38,560 shares during the period. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in ONEOK by 11.4% during the third quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 7,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $490,000 after purchasing an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OKE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Seaport Res Ptn raised ONEOK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on ONEOK from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of ONEOK from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on ONEOK from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.58.

ONEOK Stock Performance

Shares of ONEOK stock opened at $80.03 on Friday. ONEOK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.91 and a 52 week high of $81.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.61, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 1.64. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $78.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $72.22.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $4.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.84 billion. ONEOK had a return on equity of 15.94% and a net margin of 12.54%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.95 EPS for the current year.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a $0.99 dividend. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. ONEOK’s payout ratio is presently 92.09%.

ONEOK declared that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 purchase up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ONEOK news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith bought 2,700 shares of ONEOK stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were 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 owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,175. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.