SVB Wealth LLC Boosts Stake in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

SVB Wealth LLC boosted its stake in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,193 shares during the quarter. SVB Wealth LLC’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $1,476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Flputnam Investment Management Co. lifted its stake in ONEOK by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 13,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $972,000 after buying an additional 1,171 shares in the last quarter. Keel Point LLC purchased a new position in ONEOK in the 4th quarter worth approximately $259,000. Sippican Capital Advisors purchased a new position in ONEOK in the 4th quarter worth approximately $216,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in ONEOK by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 149,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,502,000 after purchasing an additional 2,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cullen Investment Group LTD. purchased a new position in ONEOK in the 4th quarter worth approximately $969,000. 69.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on OKE shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of ONEOK from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of ONEOK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of ONEOK from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of ONEOK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of ONEOK from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ONEOK news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith purchased 2,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $75.25 per share, for a total transaction of $203,175.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,175. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

ONEOK Stock Up 0.3 %

ONEOK stock opened at $77.88 on Friday. ONEOK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.91 and a fifty-two week high of $80.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $76.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.91. The company has a market capitalization of $45.45 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.75 and a beta of 1.65.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.21 by ($0.03). ONEOK had a net margin of 15.04% and a return on equity of 22.57%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. Research analysts expect that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a $0.99 dividend. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.08%. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.35%.

ONEOK announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 17th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the utilities provider to repurchase up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.