ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) Hits New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $94.00 to $99.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. ONEOK traded as high as $98.49 and last traded at $98.35, with a volume of 744106 shares. The stock had previously closed at $95.64.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on OKE. Bank of America started coverage on shares of ONEOK in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on ONEOK from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley raised ONEOK from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $103.00 to $111.00 in a report on Monday, September 16th. Tudor Pickering upgraded ONEOK to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ONEOK presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.92.

Insider Activity at ONEOK

In other news, Director Pattye L. Moore sold 3,379 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.01, for a total value of $310,901.79. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norden Group LLC grew its stake in shares of ONEOK by 153.1% in the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 7,458 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $598,000 after purchasing an additional 4,511 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of ONEOK by 4.5% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 35,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,827,000 after buying an additional 1,513 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in shares of ONEOK in the first quarter valued at about $88,000. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new position in shares of ONEOK during the first quarter worth about $1,170,000. Finally, Csenge Advisory Group lifted its stake in shares of ONEOK by 3.3% in the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 12,029 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $964,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

ONEOK Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $59.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.38, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a fifty day moving average of $94.29 and a 200 day moving average of $86.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by ($0.05). ONEOK had a net margin of 14.05% and a return on equity of 16.84%. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.99 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current year.

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a $0.99 dividend. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.85%.

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.