ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) Shares Sold by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its position in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 128,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,255 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $9,015,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of ONEOK in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT boosted its stake in shares of ONEOK by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 34,430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,418,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 527,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,022,000 after acquiring an additional 57,468 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ONEOK during the fourth quarter worth $1,148,000. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 48.3% during the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 9,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $701,000 after purchasing an additional 3,250 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OKE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn raised ONEOK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price 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. StockNews.com raised ONEOK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ONEOK presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.58.

ONEOK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE OKE opened at $77.24 on Friday. ONEOK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.91 and a 12 month high of $81.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a market cap of $45.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.96, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 1.64. The business’s 50 day moving average is $78.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.95.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.03. ONEOK had a net margin of 12.54% and a return on equity of 15.94%. The company had revenue of $4.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.84 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.34 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.96 EPS for the current year.

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.13%. ONEOK’s payout ratio is 92.09%.

ONEOK announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 17th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the utilities provider to buy up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ONEOK 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 price of $75.25 per share, with a total value of $203,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,175. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

ONEOK 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.