Great Lakes Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its position in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 70,005 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,924 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $7,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ONEOK during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new stake in ONEOK in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in ONEOK in the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of ONEOK during the fourth quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 98.1% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

ONEOK Trading Up 0.5 %

ONEOK stock opened at $93.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $58.31 billion, a PE ratio of 19.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.70. ONEOK, Inc. has a 12 month low of $76.23 and a 12 month high of $118.07. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $99.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.11. ONEOK had a net margin of 14.05% and a return on equity of 16.84%. The firm had revenue of $7 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.18 billion. Analysts anticipate that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.07 earnings per share for the current year.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $1.03 dividend. This is a boost from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.41%. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.69%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on OKE. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of ONEOK from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of ONEOK in a research note on Friday, February 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Barclays cut their target price on ONEOK from $105.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group lifted their price target on ONEOK from $112.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, US Capital Advisors raised ONEOK from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.31.

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.