Wells Fargo & Company Raises ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) Price Target to $85.00

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) had its price objective raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $85.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on OKE. Truist Financial boosted their target price on ONEOK from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on ONEOK from $81.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, US Capital Advisors cut shares of ONEOK from an overweight rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, ONEOK has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $83.58.

ONEOK Price Performance

Shares of OKE traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $77.23. 2,235,558 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,820,855. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $78.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $45.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 1.64. ONEOK has a 12-month low of $55.91 and a 12-month high of $81.81.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.84 billion. ONEOK had a net margin of 12.54% and a return on equity of 15.94%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.34 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that ONEOK will post 4.96 earnings per share for the current year.

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

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a $0.99 dividend. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. ONEOK’s payout ratio is 92.09%.

Insider Activity

In other ONEOK news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith purchased 2,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost 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 $203,175. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ONEOK

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of OKE. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in ONEOK by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,237,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,757,405,000 after acquiring an additional 5,525,010 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of ONEOK by 37.7% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 13,292,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $843,133,000 after purchasing an additional 3,636,660 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of ONEOK by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,408,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $871,341,000 after purchasing an additional 2,153,295 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in ONEOK by 20.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,660,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $549,305,000 after buying an additional 1,458,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in ONEOK by 65.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,132,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $515,832,000 after buying an additional 3,229,046 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

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.