Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Takes Position in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new position in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 2,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 16.2% during the fourth 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 period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 26.6% in the 4th 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 last quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 102.3% in the 3rd quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 26,432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after acquiring an additional 13,367 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in shares of ONEOK by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 160,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,277,000 after acquiring an additional 38,560 shares during the period. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $490,000 after purchasing an additional 790 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of ONEOK from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. US Capital Advisors lowered ONEOK from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on ONEOK from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Raymond James upped their price objective on ONEOK from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of ONEOK from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, ONEOK currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.58.

ONEOK Price Performance

ONEOK stock opened at $80.03 on Friday. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $78.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.61, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 1.64. ONEOK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.91 and a 1 year high of $81.81.

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

ONEOK Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.99 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.95%. ONEOK’s payout ratio is currently 92.09%.

ONEOK announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 17th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the utilities provider to buy up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith purchased 2,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $75.25 per share, for a total transaction of $203,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,175. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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.