Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. Makes New $211,000 Investment in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 3,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ELCO Management Co. LLC grew its holdings in ONEOK by 102.3% during the 3rd quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 26,432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,677,000 after acquiring an additional 13,367 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its position in shares of ONEOK by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 7,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $490,000 after purchasing an additional 790 shares during the period. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT lifted its position in shares of ONEOK by 15.9% in the 2nd quarter. CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT now owns 698,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,119,000 after purchasing an additional 95,725 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 1.5% during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,460,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the period. Finally, Insight Folios Inc bought a new stake in ONEOK in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,998,000. 69.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

ONEOK Stock Performance

NYSE OKE traded up $0.51 on Thursday, hitting $80.11. 804,030 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,063,571. The business’s fifty day moving average is $73.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.42. ONEOK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.91 and a 12 month high of $80.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.34, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.90.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 30th were given a dividend of $0.99 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 29th. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.94%. This is an increase from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith bought 2,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $75.25 per share, for a total transaction of $203,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,175. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on OKE shares. Mizuho upped their price target on ONEOK from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Wolfe Research raised ONEOK from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Bank of America raised ONEOK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Monday, December 4th. Citigroup increased their price objective on ONEOK from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, US Capital Advisors downgraded ONEOK from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ONEOK presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $81.73.

ONEOK 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.