Symmetry Partners LLC Invests $229,000 in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Symmetry Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in ONEOK by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,120,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,040,075,000 after purchasing an additional 558,789 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in ONEOK by 5.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in ONEOK by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,037,890 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,405,697,000 after purchasing an additional 357,015 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in ONEOK by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,535,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,200,000 after purchasing an additional 864,392 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in ONEOK in the fourth quarter valued at about $539,554,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OKE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their target price on ONEOK from $110.00 to $102.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on ONEOK from $102.00 to $93.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on ONEOK from $110.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on ONEOK from $111.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on ONEOK from $101.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $103.69.

ONEOK Stock Performance

Shares of OKE stock opened at $79.96 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.79. ONEOK, Inc. has a one year low of $75.48 and a one year high of $118.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.34 billion, a PE ratio of 15.62, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.52.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.24). ONEOK had a net margin of 12.15% and a return on equity of 15.58%. The company had revenue of $6.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.09 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.07 earnings per share for the current year.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.15%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.47%.

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.