ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) Shares Purchased by Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 25,021 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,172 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $1,757,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OKE. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of ONEOK by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,237,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,757,405,000 after buying an additional 5,525,010 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in ONEOK by 37.7% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 13,292,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $843,133,000 after acquiring an additional 3,636,660 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of ONEOK by 9.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,255,430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $650,502,000 after acquiring an additional 889,110 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of ONEOK by 20.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,660,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $549,305,000 after purchasing an additional 1,458,392 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in ONEOK by 65.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,132,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $515,832,000 after purchasing an additional 3,229,046 shares during the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ONEOK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE OKE traded up $0.04 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $80.39. The company had a trading volume of 632,050 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,987,792. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.92 billion, a PE ratio of 14.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 1.65. ONEOK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.91 and a twelve month high of $80.84. 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 has a 50-day moving average price of $77.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.41.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.21 by ($0.03). ONEOK had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 15.04%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.99 per share. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.93%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. ONEOK’s payout ratio is 71.35%.

ONEOK announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the utilities provider to repurchase up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

OKE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Wolfe Research upgraded ONEOK from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. US Capital Advisors downgraded ONEOK from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Mizuho increased their target price on ONEOK from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.25.

Insider Transactions at ONEOK

In other ONEOK news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith bought 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $75.25 per share, with a total value of $203,175.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,175. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate 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.