Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 41.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 76,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,239 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $5,374,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of ONEOK in the fourth quarter worth $292,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 39,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,764,000 after acquiring an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of ONEOK by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 104,559 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,342,000 after acquiring an additional 18,194 shares during the last quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 2,747.0% during the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,662 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $468,000 after purchasing an additional 6,428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of ONEOK by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 21,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,476,000 after purchasing an additional 1,193 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at ONEOK

In other news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith purchased 2,700 shares of ONEOK stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $75.25 per share, with a total value of $203,175.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at $203,175. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on OKE shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of ONEOK from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Barclays upped their price objective on ONEOK from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on ONEOK from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.25.

ONEOK Price Performance

Shares of OKE stock opened at $79.63 on Friday. 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 market cap of $46.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.35, a P/E/G ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 1.65. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $76.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.03. ONEOK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.91 and a fifty-two week high of $80.81.

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

ONEOK announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 17th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the utilities provider to purchase up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.99 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.97%. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.35%.

ONEOK Company 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.