Tower Bridge Advisors Raises Stock Holdings in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Tower Bridge Advisors grew its stake in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 84,092 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,564 shares during the period. Tower Bridge Advisors’ holdings in ONEOK were worth $8,443,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. purchased a new position in ONEOK during the fourth quarter worth about $249,000. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in ONEOK by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 9,061 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $910,000 after buying an additional 1,330 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in ONEOK by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Verus Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,667 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $770,000 after buying an additional 642 shares during the period. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC lifted its position in ONEOK by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC now owns 251,998 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,301,000 after buying an additional 3,612 shares during the period. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in ONEOK by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $711,000 after buying an additional 1,147 shares during the period. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ONEOK Price Performance

OKE stock opened at $100.29 on Friday. ONEOK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $74.39 and a 1 year high of $118.07. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $100.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $58.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.70.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.11. ONEOK had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 14.05%. The firm had revenue of $7 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.18 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is a positive change from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on OKE. Barclays assumed coverage on ONEOK in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on ONEOK from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their price objective on ONEOK from $112.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on ONEOK from $99.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded ONEOK from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.15.

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.