Short Interest in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) Increases By 23.5%

ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 13,930,000 shares, an increase of 23.5% from the October 31st total of 11,280,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,990,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on OKE. Mizuho raised ONEOK to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. US Capital Advisors raised ONEOK from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup boosted their target price on ONEOK from $85.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays boosted their target price on ONEOK from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on ONEOK in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.38.

ONEOK Stock Down 2.6 %

OKE traded down $2.90 on Monday, hitting $110.70. 1,252,257 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,805,201. ONEOK has a 12 month low of $65.49 and a 12 month high of $118.07. The company has a market cap of $64.67 billion, a PE ratio of 23.77, a PEG ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.66. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $100.75 and its 200-day moving average is $90.13.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last released its 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). The company had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.81 billion. ONEOK had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 14.05%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that ONEOK will post 5.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is 82.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Pattye L. Moore sold 3,379 shares of ONEOK stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.01, for a total transaction of $310,901.79. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of ONEOK

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. HM Payson & Co. raised its stake in ONEOK by 6.3% in the third quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 1,764 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $161,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of ONEOK by 1.6% in the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 7,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $650,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Haverford Trust Co grew its position in shares of ONEOK by 1.2% in the third quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 10,067 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $917,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of ONEOK by 2.2% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of ONEOK by 0.9% in the second quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 13,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,111,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

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.