ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) Shares Bought by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 160,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,496 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $11,237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in OKE. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of ONEOK by 10.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of ONEOK by 37.7% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of ONEOK by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,255,430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $650,502,000 after buying an additional 889,110 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of ONEOK by 20.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,660,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $549,305,000 after buying an additional 1,458,392 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of ONEOK by 65.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,132,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $515,832,000 after buying an additional 3,229,046 shares during the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ONEOK Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of OKE stock opened at $76.95 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.91 billion, a PE ratio of 17.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.70 and a beta of 1.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $78.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.95. ONEOK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.91 and a 1 year high of $81.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.70.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $4.78 billion for 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.34 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

ONEOK declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the utilities provider to buy up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.99 per share. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.15%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. ONEOK’s payout ratio is currently 92.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ONEOK news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith acquired 2,700 shares of ONEOK stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $75.25 per share, for a total transaction of $203,175.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,175. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on OKE shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on ONEOK from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. US Capital Advisors lowered shares of ONEOK from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of ONEOK from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.25.

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.