ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) Stake Boosted by Auxano Advisors LLC

Auxano Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 29.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,667 shares during the quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OKE. Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of ONEOK by 3.6% during the third quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,631 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $294,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC increased its position in ONEOK by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 3,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of ONEOK by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC boosted its holdings in ONEOK by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of ONEOK by 0.3% during the third quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 70,574 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,477,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on OKE. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of ONEOK from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Wolfe Research upgraded ONEOK from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Raymond James boosted their price target on ONEOK from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. One 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.25.

ONEOK Stock Performance

Shares of OKE stock traded down $1.31 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $79.12. 4,135,007 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,986,417. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $77.97 and its 200 day moving average is $71.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. ONEOK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.91 and a 1 year high of $81.81. The company has a market capitalization of $46.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.67, a PEG ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 1.65.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 business posted $1.08 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.99 per share. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.01%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.35%.

ONEOK declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan 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 plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.