California State Teachers Retirement System Purchases 747,824 Shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 52.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,182,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 747,824 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $219,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of OKE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in ONEOK by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,120,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,040,075,000 after acquiring an additional 558,789 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of ONEOK by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,414,781 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,848,844,000 after purchasing an additional 934,007 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ONEOK by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,037,890 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,405,697,000 after purchasing an additional 357,015 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,535,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,200,000 after buying an additional 864,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in ONEOK during the fourth quarter valued at about $539,554,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. US Capital Advisors upgraded shares of ONEOK from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on ONEOK from $105.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on ONEOK from $111.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on ONEOK from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $109.00 to $102.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ONEOK currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $106.42.

ONEOK Stock Performance

ONEOK stock opened at $86.38 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $92.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. ONEOK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.48 and a 1-year high of $118.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.95 billion, a PE ratio of 18.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.20.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.11. ONEOK had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 14.05%. The company had revenue of $7 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.18 billion. As a group, analysts expect that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.69%.

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.