Rafferty Asset Management LLC Reduces Position in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 134,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,397 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $13,529,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Greenline Partners LLC bought a new stake in ONEOK in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in ONEOK in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new stake in ONEOK in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in ONEOK in the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in ONEOK in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. 69.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OKE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on ONEOK from $102.00 to $93.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup lowered their price objective on ONEOK from $110.00 to $102.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on ONEOK from $101.00 to $100.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Barclays lowered their target price on ONEOK from $105.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on ONEOK from $111.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.00.

ONEOK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE OKE opened at $85.74 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.69. The company has a market cap of $53.55 billion, a PE ratio of 17.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.01. ONEOK, Inc. has a 12-month low of $75.48 and a 12-month high of $118.07.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.24). The business had revenue of $6.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.23 billion. ONEOK had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 14.05%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.09 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.07 EPS for the current year.

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th were given a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.81%. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.47%.

About ONEOK

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.