Blackstone Inc. Sells 62,562 Shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Blackstone Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE - Free Report) by 18.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 277,514 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 62,562 shares during the quarter. Blackstone Inc.'s holdings in ONEOK were worth $27,862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bramshill Investments LLC acquired a new stake in ONEOK in the fourth quarter valued at $1,528,000. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ONEOK in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,522,000. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of ONEOK by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 147,014 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $14,760,000 after acquiring an additional 1,918 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of ONEOK by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 33,839 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,397,000 after acquiring an additional 2,582 shares during the period. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in ONEOK by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 93,719 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,409,000 after acquiring an additional 2,404 shares during the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ONEOK Trading Down 3.2 %

OKE opened at $80.14 on Tuesday. ONEOK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.48 and a fifty-two week high of $118.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.05 billion, a PE ratio of 16.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company's 50-day moving average is $90.36 and its 200 day moving average is $98.52.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $6.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.23 billion. ONEOK had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 14.05%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.09 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.14%. ONEOK's payout ratio is 80.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on OKE. Wolfe Research raised shares of ONEOK from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $110.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on ONEOK from $102.00 to $93.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. US Capital Advisors raised ONEOK from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup assumed coverage on ONEOK in a research note on Friday, February 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on ONEOK from $111.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ONEOK has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $105.62.

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.

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