ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) Shares Acquired by Verity & Verity LLC

Verity & Verity LLC lifted its holdings in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE - Free Report) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 280,590 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 4,188 shares during the quarter. ONEOK comprises 2.4% of Verity & Verity LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Verity & Verity LLC's holdings in ONEOK were worth $27,840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in OKE. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in ONEOK by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 11,505 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,142,000 after buying an additional 1,180 shares during the last quarter. Cinctive Capital Management LP bought a new position in ONEOK in the 4th quarter valued at $19,909,000. Americana Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of ONEOK by 258.6% in the 4th quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 271,836 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $27,292,000 after purchasing an additional 196,038 shares during the period. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC acquired a new position in shares of ONEOK in the 4th quarter valued at $34,360,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd lifted its stake in shares of ONEOK by 41.8% in the 4th quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 15,399 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,546,000 after purchasing an additional 4,538 shares during the period. 69.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OKE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $110.00 to $102.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of ONEOK from $102.00 to $93.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of ONEOK from $110.00 to $107.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on ONEOK from $96.00 to $93.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ONEOK has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $103.69.

ONEOK Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of OKE traded up $1.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $83.74. The stock had a trading volume of 5,356,951 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,379,967. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.48. ONEOK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.48 and a twelve month high of $118.07. The firm has a market cap of $52.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $8.23 billion. ONEOK had a net margin of 14.05% and a return on equity of 16.84%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.09 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.07 EPS for the current year.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. ONEOK's dividend payout ratio is currently 80.47%.

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.