Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Holdings in ONEOK, Inc. $OKE

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 77,222,590 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 711,619 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of ONEOK worth $5,634,932,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 137.1% in the 4th 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 period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 0.8% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 17,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,782,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in ONEOK in the first quarter worth about $216,000. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its stake in ONEOK by 3.1% during the second quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 4,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in shares of ONEOK by 1.2% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 125,709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,231,000 after acquiring an additional 1,465 shares in the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Argus upgraded ONEOK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $79.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of ONEOK from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $87.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of ONEOK from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 price target (down from $100.00) on shares of ONEOK in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $104.00 target price on shares of ONEOK in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.80.

ONEOK Stock Performance

NYSE:OKE opened at $85.50 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $76.19 and its 200-day moving average is $73.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company has a market cap of $53.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.72, a PEG ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 0.96. ONEOK, Inc. has a 52-week low of $64.02 and a 52-week high of $103.64.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 2nd were paid a dividend of $1.07 per share. This is an increase from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $4.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 2nd. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.68%.

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.