ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) Price Target Increased to $88.00 by Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) had its price objective increased by Stifel Nicolaus from $81.00 to $88.00 in a research note published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on OKE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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 Wednesday, March 13th. Truist Financial raised their target price on ONEOK from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Raymond James raised their target price on ONEOK from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Seaport Res Ptn raised ONEOK from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on ONEOK from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a neutral 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, ONEOK has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $82.25.

ONEOK Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of ONEOK stock opened at $79.63 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.03. The company has a market cap of $46.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35, a PEG ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. ONEOK has a 1 year low of $55.91 and a 1 year high of $80.81.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.21 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.57 billion. ONEOK had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 15.04%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that ONEOK will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

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

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a $0.99 dividend. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.35%.

Insider Activity at ONEOK

In related news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith acquired 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $75.25 per share, with a total value of $203,175.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at $203,175. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its position in ONEOK by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 542,998 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,876,000 after buying an additional 7,842 shares during the last quarter. Insight Folios Inc boosted its holdings in ONEOK by 3.1% in the first quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 102,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,227,000 after acquiring an additional 3,048 shares during the last quarter. Accel Wealth Management boosted its holdings in ONEOK by 16.0% in the first quarter. Accel Wealth Management now owns 3,584 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $287,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in ONEOK by 8.1% in the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 17,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,407,000 after purchasing an additional 1,316 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in ONEOK by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,310,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

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.