Kovack Advisors Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Kovack Advisors Inc. increased its position in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 18.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,024 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $610,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in ONEOK by 9,439.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,230,989 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $294,440,000 after buying an additional 3,197,121 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in shares of ONEOK in the first quarter worth approximately $77,634,000. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 3,648.4% during the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 514,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,995,000 after purchasing an additional 501,216 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in ONEOK by 370.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 615,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,327,000 after purchasing an additional 484,403 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its position in ONEOK by 3,137.6% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 405,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 392,644 shares during the period. 69.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on OKE. Bank of America initiated coverage on ONEOK in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $105.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of ONEOK from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of ONEOK from $88.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of ONEOK from $85.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Pattye L. Moore sold 3,379 shares of ONEOK stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.01, for a total value of $310,901.79. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

ONEOK Stock Down 0.3 %

OKE opened at $107.88 on Friday. ONEOK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $64.68 and a 52 week high of $109.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.24. The company has a market capitalization of $63.02 billion, a PE ratio of 22.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.40 and a beta of 1.66.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.05). ONEOK had a net margin of 14.05% and a return on equity of 16.84%. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. Analysts forecast that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, November 1st were paid a dividend of $0.99 per share. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. ONEOK’s payout ratio is 82.85%.

ONEOK 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.