Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 4,777 Shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 87.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,247 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,777 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $720,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in OKE. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in ONEOK by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 21,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,531,000 after acquiring an additional 3,032 shares in the last quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 102.3% in the third quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 26,432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 13,367 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its position in shares of ONEOK by 11.4% in the third quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 7,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $490,000 after buying an additional 790 shares in the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in ONEOK by 1.5% during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,460,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Insight Folios Inc purchased a new position in ONEOK during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,998,000. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith bought 2,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $75.25 per share, for a total transaction of $203,175.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 2,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $203,175. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on OKE shares. Barclays increased their target price on ONEOK from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of ONEOK from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. UBS Group lifted their price target on ONEOK from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Raymond James upped their price objective on ONEOK from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded ONEOK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $81.73.

ONEOK Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE:OKE opened at $77.85 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $45.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.65. ONEOK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.91 and a twelve month high of $80.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.72.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. ONEOK had a net margin of 15.04% and a return on equity of 22.57%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. Analysts anticipate that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

ONEOK announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 17th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the utilities provider to buy up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 30th were paid a $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 29th. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.09%. This is a boost from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.96. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is 71.35%.

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.