SFE Investment Counsel Has $10.90 Million Stake in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

SFE Investment Counsel cut its stake in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 155,166 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,275 shares during the quarter. ONEOK comprises approximately 2.8% of SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $10,896,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of ONEOK by 118,109.3% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 22,562,603 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,482,363,000 after purchasing an additional 22,543,516 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in ONEOK by 10.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,237,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,757,405,000 after purchasing an additional 5,525,010 shares during the last quarter. Cowa LLC grew its stake in shares of ONEOK by 9,775.0% during the first quarter. Cowa LLC now owns 5,324,428 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,761,000 after acquiring an additional 5,270,510 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of ONEOK by 37.7% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 13,292,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $843,133,000 after acquiring an additional 3,636,660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blackstone Inc. grew its stake in shares of ONEOK by 3,478.3% during the third quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 3,578,316 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $226,973,000 after acquiring an additional 3,478,316 shares during the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at ONEOK

In other news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith acquired 2,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $75.25 per share, for a total transaction 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. US Capital Advisors lowered ONEOK from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com upgraded ONEOK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Raymond James upped their target price on ONEOK from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on ONEOK from $81.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.25.

ONEOK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE OKE remained flat at $77.68 during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock had a trading volume of 1,182,074 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,019,171. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $76.35 and its 200-day moving average is $70.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.67. ONEOK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.91 and a fifty-two week high of $80.81.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by ($0.03). ONEOK had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 15.04%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 17th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the utilities provider to buy up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.