ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) PT Raised to $89.00

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) had its price target hoisted by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $88.00 to $89.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 15.23% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on OKE. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of ONEOK from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of ONEOK from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of ONEOK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.58.

ONEOK Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of ONEOK stock traded up $0.29 during trading on Friday, reaching $77.24. 2,235,452 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,996,050. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.67. ONEOK has a 1-year low of $55.91 and a 1-year high of $81.81. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $78.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.08 billion, a PE ratio of 17.96, a P/E/G ratio of 4.70 and a beta of 1.64.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.03. ONEOK had a net margin of 12.54% and a return on equity of 15.94%. The firm had revenue of $4.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that ONEOK will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 17th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the utilities provider to buy up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith purchased 2,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $75.25 per share, with a total value of $203,175.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,175. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ONEOK

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of OKE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 10.3% in 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. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in ONEOK in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $297,948,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake 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. Blackstone Inc. raised its stake in ONEOK by 3,478.3% in the third quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 3,578,316 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $226,973,000 after purchasing an additional 3,478,316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.