ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) Short Interest Down 13.7% in March

ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,790,000 shares, a decrease of 13.7% from the February 28th total of 11,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,950,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

ONEOK Price Performance

NYSE:OKE traded down $6.45 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $93.92. 3,540,683 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,035,769. The company has a market capitalization of $58.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. ONEOK has a one year low of $76.23 and a one year high of $118.07. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $97.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $100.36.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $7 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.18 billion. ONEOK had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 14.05%. Sell-side analysts predict that ONEOK will post 5.07 EPS for the current year.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.39%. This is an increase from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on OKE. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on ONEOK from $109.00 to $102.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of ONEOK from $105.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. US Capital Advisors upgraded shares of ONEOK from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $111.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of ONEOK from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ONEOK

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in OKE. Norges Bank bought a new stake in ONEOK during the fourth quarter worth approximately $539,554,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 433.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,206,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $422,373,000 after acquiring an additional 3,418,207 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 240.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,790,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $280,194,000 after acquiring an additional 1,971,147 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ONEOK during the fourth quarter worth $182,694,000. Finally, ClearBridge Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of ONEOK during the fourth quarter valued at $177,045,000. 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.