Verus Capital Partners LLC Raises Position in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Verus Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 9.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,667 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 642 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $770,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its holdings in ONEOK by 18.8% in the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 3,315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its stake in shares of ONEOK by 37.7% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 5,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582 shares in the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. increased its stake in shares of ONEOK by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 1,764 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $161,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in ONEOK by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 86,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,864,000 after acquiring an additional 2,012 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR boosted its stake in ONEOK by 1.0% during the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 41,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,739,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

ONEOK Stock Up 3.8 %

OKE opened at $100.29 on Friday. ONEOK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $74.39 and a twelve month high of $118.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $100.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $99.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.98, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.70.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.11. ONEOK had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 14.05%. The firm had revenue of $7 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.18 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.07 earnings per share for the current year.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.11%. This is a boost from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 86.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on OKE shares. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of ONEOK from $112.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on ONEOK from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays assumed coverage on ONEOK in a report on Thursday, February 6th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup began coverage on ONEOK in a report on Friday. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price target for the company. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of ONEOK to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ONEOK has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.15.

ONEOK Company 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.