ClearBridge Investments Ltd Acquires New Stake in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

ClearBridge Investments Ltd bought a new position in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,763,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $177,045,000. ONEOK makes up 4.6% of ClearBridge Investments Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. ClearBridge Investments Ltd owned approximately 0.30% of ONEOK at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of OKE. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,120,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,040,075,000 after acquiring an additional 558,789 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,414,781 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,848,844,000 after purchasing an additional 934,007 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of ONEOK by 1.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,680,875 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,242,449,000 after acquiring an additional 138,430 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in ONEOK during the fourth quarter worth approximately $539,554,000. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in ONEOK by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,105,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $422,261,000 after acquiring an additional 207,324 shares during the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on OKE. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on ONEOK from $111.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Citigroup initiated coverage on ONEOK in a research note on Friday, February 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of ONEOK from $99.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on ONEOK from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of ONEOK from $105.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $105.00.

ONEOK Stock Down 0.2 %

OKE stock opened at $98.47 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $61.48 billion, a PE ratio of 20.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. ONEOK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.23 and a twelve month high of $118.07. The business has a 50 day moving average of $98.32 and a 200 day moving average of $100.17.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $7 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.18 billion. ONEOK had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 14.05%. On average, research analysts forecast that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.18%. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.69%.

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.