ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) Stock Price Up 4.1% on Analyst Upgrade

ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) was up 4.1% during mid-day trading on Friday after Jefferies Financial Group upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. Jefferies Financial Group now has a $98.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $85.00. ONEOK traded as high as $91.98 and last traded at $92.0140. Approximately 3,032,774 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 36% from the average daily volume of 4,750,458 shares. The stock had previously closed at $88.39.

OKE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. UBS Group lowered their price objective on ONEOK from $114.00 to $103.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $91.00 target price on shares of ONEOK in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Mizuho set a $89.00 price target on ONEOK in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on ONEOK from $79.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of ONEOK in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $87.53.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ONEOK

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT grew its stake in ONEOK by 73.3% during the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 338 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. City Holding Co. purchased a new position in shares of ONEOK in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Winnow Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of ONEOK in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates acquired a new stake in shares of ONEOK during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Financial Consulate Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ONEOK during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

ONEOK Trading Up 0.9%

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $82.10 and a 200 day moving average of $75.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market cap of $56.19 billion, a PE ratio of 16.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.79 and a beta of 0.93.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The utilities provider reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.05. ONEOK had a net margin of 10.09% and a return on equity of 15.29%. The company had revenue of $9.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.57 EPS. ONEOK has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.040-5.870 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.07 earnings per share for the current year.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.07 per share. This represents a $4.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. This is a boost from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 2nd. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is 78.97%.

ONEOK Company Profile

ONEOK, Inc (NYSE: OKE) is a publicly traded midstream energy company headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The company owns and operates a portfolio of natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) pipelines, processing facilities, fractionators and storage and terminal assets. Its operations are focused on gathering, processing, transporting, fractionating and marketing NGLs and interstate natural gas, providing critical infrastructure that connects hydrocarbon production to refineries, petrochemical plants and other end markets.

ONEOK’s asset base includes pipeline systems and processing plants that move and condition natural gas, along with infrastructure for the transportation, storage and fractionation of NGLs such as ethane, propane and butane.