ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $82.25.

A number of brokerages have commented on OKE. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Barclays raised their target price 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of ONEOK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, US Capital Advisors lowered shares of ONEOK from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th.

Insider Activity at ONEOK

In other ONEOK news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith purchased 2,700 shares of ONEOK stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $75.25 per share, for a total transaction of $203,175.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,175. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ONEOK

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $3,757,405,000 after purchasing an additional 5,525,010 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 37.7% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 13,292,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $843,133,000 after purchasing an additional 3,636,660 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,408,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $871,341,000 after purchasing an additional 2,153,295 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of ONEOK by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,660,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $549,305,000 after buying an additional 1,458,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of ONEOK by 65.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,132,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $515,832,000 after buying an additional 3,229,046 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

ONEOK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:OKE opened at $81.06 on Tuesday. ONEOK has a 52 week low of $55.91 and a 52 week high of $81.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.61, a PEG ratio of 4.97 and a beta of 1.65. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that ONEOK will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.89%. ONEOK’s payout ratio is 71.35%.

ONEOK Company Profile

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.