Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Makes New Investment in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new position in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 2,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in OKE. Peoples Bank KS bought a new position in shares of ONEOK during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in ONEOK by 90.7% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in ONEOK in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in shares of ONEOK by 605.1% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 283.5% during the fourth quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 377 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

ONEOK Price Performance

Shares of ONEOK stock opened at $80.03 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $46.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.61, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 1.64. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $78.62 and its 200 day moving average is $72.22. ONEOK, Inc. has a one year low of $55.91 and a one year high of $81.81.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $4.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.84 billion. ONEOK had a return on equity of 15.94% and a net margin of 12.54%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.34 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.95 earnings per share for the current year.

ONEOK declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 17th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the utilities provider to reacquire up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.95%. ONEOK’s payout ratio is currently 92.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith acquired 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $75.25 per share, for a total transaction of $203,175.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,175. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on OKE shares. Mizuho upped their price objective on ONEOK from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Barclays boosted 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. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of ONEOK from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of ONEOK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ONEOK presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.58.

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.