ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) Shares Sold by Clarity Financial LLC

Clarity Financial LLC lessened its stake in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 22.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 119,166 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 34,553 shares during the period. ONEOK makes up about 1.4% of Clarity Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Clarity Financial LLC’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $11,964,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OKE. National Pension Service raised its position in shares of ONEOK by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 763,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $69,608,000 after buying an additional 12,349 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc. raised its position in ONEOK by 3.8% in the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 141,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,871,000 after purchasing an additional 5,175 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its stake in shares of ONEOK by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 54,557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,972,000 after purchasing an additional 5,451 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 14,279.1% during the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 22,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,208,000 after purchasing an additional 21,847 shares during the period. Finally, Sageworth Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of ONEOK during the 3rd quarter worth about $568,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho raised shares of ONEOK to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of ONEOK from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group upped their price target on ONEOK from $112.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Wells Fargo & Company cut ONEOK from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $107.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on ONEOK in a research note on Friday, January 10th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $109.00 target price on the stock. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.92.

ONEOK Stock Performance

NYSE:OKE opened at $99.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $58.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.59. ONEOK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $67.05 and a 1-year high of $118.07. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $105.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $96.95.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.05). ONEOK had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 14.05%. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.99 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $1.03 dividend. This is a boost from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 86.19%.

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.