ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) Now Covered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of ONEOK (NYSE:OKE – Get Rating) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

OKE has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barclays upped their target price on shares of ONEOK from $59.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 18th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, March 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, March 9th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of ONEOK in a research note on Thursday, December 8th. They set a neutral rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of ONEOK from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Friday, December 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $73.44.

ONEOK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE OKE opened at $59.49 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $26.61 billion, a PE ratio of 15.53, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. ONEOK has a 1-year low of $50.50 and a 1-year high of $75.07. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $67.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.35.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $5.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.03 billion. ONEOK had a net margin of 7.69% and a return on equity of 27.65%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. Research analysts predict that ONEOK will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, January 30th were paid a $0.955 dividend. This is an increase from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $3.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 27th. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.74%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ONEOK

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Command Bank lifted its stake in ONEOK by 401.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Command Bank now owns 491 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in ONEOK in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in ONEOK in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Worth Asset Management LLC bought a new position in ONEOK in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in ONEOK in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. 67.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About ONEOK

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ONEOK, Inc engages in gathering, processing, fractionating, transporting, storing and marketing of natural gas. It operates through the following segments: Natural Gas Gathering and Processing, Natural Gas Liquids and Natural Gas Pipelines. The Natural Gas Gathering and Processing segment offers midstream services to producers in North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma.