ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) Shares Purchased by Lincoln National Corp

Lincoln National Corp raised its holdings in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 25.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 16,144 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,291 shares during the quarter. Lincoln National Corp’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $1,134,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in ONEOK by 10.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,237,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,757,405,000 after purchasing an additional 5,525,010 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of ONEOK by 37.7% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 13,292,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $843,133,000 after purchasing an additional 3,636,660 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of ONEOK by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,255,430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $650,502,000 after purchasing an additional 889,110 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in ONEOK by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,660,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $549,305,000 after buying an additional 1,458,392 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in ONEOK by 65.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,132,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $515,832,000 after buying an additional 3,229,046 shares in the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ONEOK Stock Up 1.0 %

ONEOK stock opened at $79.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.40, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 1.64. ONEOK, Inc. has a one year low of $55.91 and a one year high of $81.81.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.03. ONEOK had a return on equity of 15.94% and a net margin of 12.54%. The company had revenue of $4.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.95 earnings per share for the current year.

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.00%. ONEOK’s payout ratio is 92.09%.

ONEOK declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 17th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the utilities provider to reacquire up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on OKE shares. Raymond James increased their price objective on ONEOK from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of ONEOK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on ONEOK from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on ONEOK from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.58.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith purchased 2,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $75.25 per share, for a total transaction of $203,175.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,175. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.