Morgan Stanley Raises ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) Price Target to $85.00

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) had its target price lifted by Morgan Stanley from $84.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on OKE. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of ONEOK from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of ONEOK from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of ONEOK from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of ONEOK from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of ONEOK from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $81.73.

ONEOK Stock Performance

NYSE OKE opened at $80.17 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.65. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.49. ONEOK has a 1 year low of $55.91 and a 1 year high of $80.53.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for 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 prior year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that ONEOK will post 4.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 30th were issued a dividend of $0.99 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, January 29th. This is a boost from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.94%. ONEOK’s payout ratio is 71.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith acquired 2,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were acquired at an average price 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 in the company, valued at approximately $203,175. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of ONEOK

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Presima Securities ULC grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Presima Securities ULC now owns 9,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $639,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,631 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $294,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,386 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 3,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 21,637 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,335,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. 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.