Plato Investment Management Ltd Acquires Shares of 8,262 ONEOK, Inc. $OKE

Key Points

• Plato Investment Management Ltd made a significant investment of $829,000 in ONEOK, Inc., acquiring 8,262 shares in the first quarter.
• ONEOK reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.34 for its latest quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $1.33.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.03 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 5.6%.

Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 8,262 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $829,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in ONEOK by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,196,969 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $7,461,043,000 after purchasing an additional 5,076,705 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of ONEOK by 13.8% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 20,957,230 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,079,376,000 after buying an additional 2,542,449 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in ONEOK by 25.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,339,939 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $827,489,000 after acquiring an additional 1,674,706 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. raised its holdings in ONEOK by 17.1% in the first quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 7,171,795 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $711,586,000 after acquiring an additional 1,047,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in ONEOK by 5.3% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,879,863 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $682,620,000 after acquiring an additional 344,002 shares during the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on OKE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Scotiabank set a $92.00 target price on ONEOK and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Mizuho decreased their price target on ONEOK from $87.00 to $82.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 29th. TD Cowen started coverage on ONEOK in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They set a "hold" rating and a $91.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on ONEOK from $94.00 to $88.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $100.60.

ONEOK Stock Performance

Shares of OKE stock traded down $0.20 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $73.10. 2,452,189 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,110,274. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $77.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.59. ONEOK, Inc. has a 12-month low of $70.63 and a 12-month high of $118.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.04.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.20 billion. ONEOK had a return on equity of 14.90% and a net margin of 11.06%.During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.33 EPS. ONEOK has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.370-5.370 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.07 EPS for the current year.

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were issued a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 1st. ONEOK's payout ratio is presently 80.31%.

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.