Bank of Nova Scotia Grows Stake in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 204.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 227,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 152,792 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $22,842,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new position in ONEOK in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new position in ONEOK in the 4th quarter worth $40,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in ONEOK in the 4th quarter worth $48,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in ONEOK in the 4th quarter worth $50,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in ONEOK in the 4th quarter worth $51,000. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OKE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank decreased their price target on ONEOK from $109.00 to $102.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on ONEOK from $111.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on ONEOK from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Citigroup initiated coverage on ONEOK in a report on Friday, February 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on ONEOK from $105.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ONEOK presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $105.00.

ONEOK Trading Up 7.6 %

OKE opened at $84.68 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $52.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.20. ONEOK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $75.48 and a 12 month high of $118.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $95.26 and a 200 day moving average of $99.77.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $7 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.18 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.07 EPS for the current year.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.87%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is a positive change from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. ONEOK’s payout ratio is 79.69%.

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.