ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) Trading Down 1.6%

ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) dropped 1.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $78.83 and last traded at $78.90. Approximately 582,242 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 2,827,671 shares. The stock had previously closed at $80.19.

Analyst Ratings Changes

OKE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of ONEOK from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. US Capital Advisors lowered shares of ONEOK from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.25.

ONEOK Price Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average is $79.79 and its 200-day moving average is $74.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market cap of $45.58 billion, a PE ratio of 18.16, a P/E/G ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 1.65.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $5.84 billion. ONEOK had a net margin of 12.54% and a return on equity of 15.94%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.34 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st were paid a $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.07%. ONEOK’s payout ratio is 92.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ONEOK

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of OKE. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of ONEOK by 10.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,237,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,757,405,000 after acquiring an additional 5,525,010 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of ONEOK in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $297,948,000. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in ONEOK by 37.7% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. lifted its position in ONEOK by 3,478.3% during the third quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 3,578,316 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $226,973,000 after purchasing an additional 3,478,316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in ONEOK by 65.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,132,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $515,832,000 after purchasing an additional 3,229,046 shares during the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.