ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) Stake Lessened by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its stake in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 0.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 69,128,583 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 548,351 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 11.84% of ONEOK worth $5,542,038,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OKE. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,408,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $871,341,000 after acquiring an additional 2,153,295 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,754,127 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $404,055,000 after acquiring an additional 85,736 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in ONEOK in the fourth quarter worth about $297,948,000. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its holdings in ONEOK by 28.7% in the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 3,705,367 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $297,059,000 after purchasing an additional 825,464 shares during the period. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in ONEOK by 12.3% in the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,465,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,795,000 after purchasing an additional 378,509 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

ONEOK Stock Performance

Shares of OKE traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $83.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,093,305 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,208,576. ONEOK, Inc. has a one year low of $60.58 and a one year high of $86.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.72 billion, a PE ratio of 19.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 1.65. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $81.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.25.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.03. ONEOK had a return on equity of 15.94% and a net margin of 12.54%. The company had revenue of $4.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.34 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.01 EPS for the current year.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 1st will be paid a $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.74%. ONEOK’s payout ratio is 92.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on OKE. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of ONEOK from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. StockNews.com upgraded ONEOK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on ONEOK from $89.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on ONEOK from $81.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. 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, ONEOK presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.50.

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.