ONEOK, Inc. (OKE) To Go Ex-Dividend on April 30th

ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.99 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th.

ONEOK has increased its dividend by an average of 0.7% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. ONEOK has a dividend payout ratio of 72.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect ONEOK to earn $5.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 71.7%.

ONEOK Price Performance

Shares of OKE opened at $81.06 on Friday. ONEOK has a 12-month low of $55.91 and a 12-month high of $81.81. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $47.31 billion, a PE ratio of 14.61, a PEG ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 1.65.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.21 by ($0.03). ONEOK had a net margin of 15.04% and a return on equity of 22.57%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. Analysts anticipate that ONEOK will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at ONEOK

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

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on OKE. Wolfe Research upgraded ONEOK from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Citigroup increased their price target on ONEOK from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Barclays increased their price target on ONEOK from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. StockNews.com upgraded ONEOK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on ONEOK from $81.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.25.

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.