Jennison Associates LLC Cuts Stock Position in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Jennison Associates LLC cut its holdings in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 432,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,231 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $30,382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 worth $3,757,405,000 after buying an additional 5,525,010 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in ONEOK by 37.7% in the third 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 holdings in ONEOK by 9.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,255,430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $650,502,000 after purchasing an additional 889,110 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in ONEOK by 20.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,660,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $549,305,000 after purchasing an additional 1,458,392 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in ONEOK by 65.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,132,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $515,832,000 after purchasing an additional 3,229,046 shares in the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised ONEOK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Mizuho increased their price objective on ONEOK from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on ONEOK from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, US Capital Advisors cut ONEOK from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ONEOK has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.25.

ONEOK Stock Up 0.7 %

OKE opened at $80.95 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market cap of $47.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.59, a PEG ratio of 4.91 and a beta of 1.65. ONEOK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.91 and a 52 week high of $81.12. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.47.

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

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 4.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. ONEOK’s payout ratio is currently 71.35%.

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

Insider Transactions at ONEOK

In other news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith bought 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the director now owns 2,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,175. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.