First Western Trust Bank Purchases Shares of 3,705 ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

First Western Trust Bank acquired a new position in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $260,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of ONEOK by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 21,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,531,000 after purchasing an additional 3,032 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 24,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,725,000 after acquiring an additional 5,167 shares during the period. ELCO Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of ONEOK by 102.3% in the 3rd quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 26,432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 13,367 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 160,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,277,000 after purchasing an additional 38,560 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its position in shares of ONEOK by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 7,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $490,000 after purchasing an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at ONEOK

In other ONEOK news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith purchased 2,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were bought at an average price of $75.25 per share, with a total value of $203,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $203,175. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on OKE shares. StockNews.com cut shares of ONEOK from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. US Capital Advisors downgraded shares of ONEOK from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of ONEOK from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ONEOK currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.58.

ONEOK Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:OKE traded up $0.89 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $80.03. The company had a trading volume of 1,814,990 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,960,906. The firm has a market cap of $46.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.61, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 1.64. ONEOK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.91 and a fifty-two week high of $81.81. The business’s fifty day moving average is $78.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.70.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $4.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.84 billion. ONEOK had a net margin of 12.54% and a return on equity of 15.94%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.34 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.95 earnings per share for the current year.

ONEOK declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 17th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the utilities provider to repurchase up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.99 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.95%. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 92.09%.

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.