Alpha Cubed Investments LLC Sells 1,445 Shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Alpha Cubed Investments LLC reduced its holdings in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 22.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,004 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,445 shares during the quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $351,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. MONECO Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in ONEOK by 66.8% during the fourth quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $432,000 after acquiring an additional 2,466 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in ONEOK by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,784 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $757,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP lifted its holdings in ONEOK by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 9,960 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $699,000 after acquiring an additional 901 shares during the period. Auxano Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in ONEOK by 29.9% during the fourth quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 7,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $509,000 after acquiring an additional 1,667 shares during the period. Finally, Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. lifted its holdings in ONEOK by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 19,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,394,000 after acquiring an additional 3,749 shares during the period. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ONEOK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE OKE opened at $79.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $46.18 billion, a PE ratio of 14.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.97 and a beta of 1.65. ONEOK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.91 and a fifty-two week high of $81.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $78.12 and a 200-day moving average of $71.88.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.03. ONEOK had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 15.04%. The business had revenue of $4.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.84 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.34 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

ONEOK announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 17th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the utilities provider to reacquire up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.99 per share. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. ONEOK’s payout ratio is 71.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ONEOK news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith bought 2,700 shares of ONEOK stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost 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 $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 owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OKE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research raised ONEOK from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Mizuho raised their target price on ONEOK from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Seaport Res Ptn raised ONEOK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Barclays raised their target price on ONEOK from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on ONEOK from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.25.

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.