Bank of America Initiates Coverage on ONEOK (NYSE:OKE)

Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) in a research note released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $105.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $91.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. 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 research report on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on ONEOK from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup increased their price objective on ONEOK from $85.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on ONEOK from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.77.

ONEOK Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE OKE opened at $97.23 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.62. ONEOK has a fifty-two week low of $63.33 and a fifty-two week high of $98.01. The stock has a market cap of $56.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 1.67. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.71.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.12. ONEOK had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The business had revenue of $4.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.04 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that ONEOK will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current year.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st will be given a dividend of $0.99 per share. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 1st. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ONEOK news, Director Pattye L. Moore sold 3,379 shares of ONEOK 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ONEOK

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Godsey & Gibb Inc. lifted its stake in ONEOK by 53.2% during the 3rd quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 1,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $158,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares during the period. Buckley Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in ONEOK by 1.2% during the third quarter. Buckley Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,485 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its holdings in ONEOK by 5.4% in the third quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 3,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $357,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. CNB Bank bought a new stake in ONEOK in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $91,000. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in ONEOK during the 3rd quarter valued at $276,000. 69.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.