ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $111.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $103.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on OKE. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Tudor Pickering upgraded shares of ONEOK to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $85.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $89.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $84.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $92.38.

ONEOK Stock Performance

Shares of ONEOK stock opened at $93.90 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $54.84 billion, a PE ratio of 21.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 1.67. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.62. ONEOK has a 1 year low of $60.58 and a 1 year high of $95.26.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $4.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. ONEOK had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 15.54%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that ONEOK will post 5.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were given a dividend of $0.99 per share. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 1st. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.09%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Pattye L. Moore sold 3,379 shares of ONEOK stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.01, for a total transaction of $310,901.79. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ONEOK

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in OKE. Financial Advocates Investment Management lifted its position in shares of ONEOK by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 8,494 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $596,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its holdings in ONEOK by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 15,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,111,000 after buying an additional 1,729 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of ONEOK in the fourth quarter worth about $297,948,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its position in shares of ONEOK by 91.6% in the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 22,125 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,554,000 after acquiring an additional 10,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Associated Banc Corp lifted its position in shares of ONEOK by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. Associated Banc Corp now owns 26,370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,852,000 after acquiring an additional 3,078 shares in the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.