ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) Trading 4.1% Higher Following Analyst Upgrade

ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)’s stock price rose 4.1% during trading on Friday after Jefferies Financial Group upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. Jefferies Financial Group now has a $98.00 price target on the stock. ONEOK traded as high as $91.98 and last traded at $92.0140. Approximately 3,032,774 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 36% from the average daily volume of 4,750,458 shares. The stock had previously closed at $88.39.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on OKE. Wolfe Research cut shares of ONEOK from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $104.00 price target on shares of ONEOK in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on ONEOK from $79.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho set a $89.00 price objective on ONEOK in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on ONEOK from $79.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $87.53.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of OKE. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of ONEOK by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 395,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,090,000 after acquiring an additional 59,666 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors grew its stake in ONEOK by 78.8% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 20,615 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 9,083 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Securities CORP. increased its holdings in ONEOK by 58.4% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Securities CORP. now owns 5,355 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 1,975 shares during the period. Worthington Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in ONEOK during the 4th quarter valued at $220,000. Finally, Pure Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $501,000 after buying an additional 428 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

ONEOK Stock Up 3.7%

The firm has a market cap of $57.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.90, a P/E/G ratio of 6.56 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $81.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $75.08.

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

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.07 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 2nd. This is a positive change from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $4.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is 78.97%.

About ONEOK

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.