ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) PT Raised to $88.00

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) had its price target boosted by Stifel Nicolaus from $81.00 to $88.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on OKE. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of ONEOK from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of ONEOK from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. One 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, ONEOK has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $82.25.

ONEOK Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:OKE opened at $77.88 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $76.53 and a 200 day moving average of $70.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.03, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.65. ONEOK has a 52 week low of $55.91 and a 52 week high of $80.81. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ONEOK will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.99 per share. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.08%. ONEOK’s payout ratio is presently 71.35%.

ONEOK declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 17th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the utilities provider to repurchase up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ONEOK news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith purchased 2,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were 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 approximately $203,175. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ONEOK

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of OKE. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in ONEOK by 275.5% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 2,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 2,091 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its holdings in ONEOK by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 5,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in ONEOK by 500.5% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 167,226 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,812,000 after purchasing an additional 139,379 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC boosted its holdings in ONEOK by 20.7% in the 1st quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 161,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,422,000 after purchasing an additional 27,697 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC acquired a new position in ONEOK in the 1st quarter valued at about $614,000. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.