ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) Downgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Neutral

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) was downgraded by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $83.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 7.04% from the company’s previous close.

OKE has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of ONEOK from $114.00 to $103.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ONEOK in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of ONEOK from $90.00 to $82.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $91.00 price target on shares of ONEOK in a report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price objective on ONEOK from $78.00 to $76.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.69.

ONEOK Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE OKE opened at $77.54 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $73.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.42. The company has a market capitalization of $48.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.94. ONEOK has a 12-month low of $64.02 and a 12-month high of $103.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $8.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.23 billion. ONEOK had a return on equity of 15.12% and a net margin of 10.58%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.18 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that ONEOK will post 5.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ONEOK news, Director Brian L. Derksen acquired 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $66.00 per share, for a total transaction of $165,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 21,200 shares in the company, valued at $1,399,200. This represents a 13.37% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ONEOK

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in ONEOK by 137.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 15,278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,534,000 after buying an additional 8,834 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of ONEOK by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 17,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,782,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ONEOK in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Patton Fund Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ONEOK during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in ONEOK by 10.1% in the second quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 12,767 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,042,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

ONEOK Company Profile

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.