New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $29.76 Million Stock Position in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 23.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 423,834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 81,671 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.07% of ONEOK worth $29,762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Peoples Bank KS bought a new stake in shares of ONEOK in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its position in ONEOK by 90.7% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. raised its position in ONEOK by 283.5% in the 4th quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its position in ONEOK by 605.1% in the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC raised its position in ONEOK by 1,690.9% in the 3rd quarter. Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC now owns 591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith purchased 2,700 shares of ONEOK stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $75.25 per share, with a total value of $203,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,175. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James lifted their price objective on ONEOK from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Mizuho lifted their target price on ONEOK from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Seaport Res Ptn raised ONEOK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on ONEOK from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.25.

ONEOK Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:OKE opened at $81.38 on Friday. ONEOK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.91 and a 1 year high of $81.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $47.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.66, a PEG ratio of 4.94 and a beta of 1.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $77.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.54.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its 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 net margin of 15.04% and a return on equity of 22.57%. 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 firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

ONEOK declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 17th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes 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 believes its stock is undervalued.

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a $0.99 dividend. 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 4.87%. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.35%.

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.