AJOVista LLC Acquires New Shares in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

AJOVista LLC acquired a new stake in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 3,377 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in ONEOK by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,631 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $294,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC boosted its stake 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 period. Monarch Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in ONEOK by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Monarch Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC boosted its stake in ONEOK by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its stake in ONEOK by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 70,574 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,477,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on OKE. US Capital Advisors downgraded shares of ONEOK from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of ONEOK from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of ONEOK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of ONEOK from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ONEOK presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.58.

ONEOK Stock Performance

ONEOK stock traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $77.23. The company had a trading volume of 2,235,558 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,820,855. The firm has a market cap of $45.08 billion, a PE ratio of 17.96, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 1.64. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $55.91 and a one year high of $81.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $78.34 and a 200 day moving average of $72.00.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.09 EPS 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 company had revenue of $4.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.84 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.34 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.95 earnings per share for the current year.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.99 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.13%. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 92.09%.

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

Insider Activity at ONEOK

In other news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith acquired 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $75.25 per share, with a total value of $203,175.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,175. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.