Verity & Verity LLC Has $23.81 Million Position in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Verity & Verity LLC cut its stake in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 0.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 261,235 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 682 shares during the period. ONEOK comprises approximately 2.3% of Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $23,806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Matrix Trust Co bought a new position in ONEOK during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of ONEOK in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of ONEOK in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in ONEOK during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in ONEOK during the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at ONEOK

In other ONEOK news, Director Pattye L. Moore sold 3,379 shares of ONEOK stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.01, for a total value of $310,901.79. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on OKE shares. Bank of America began coverage on ONEOK in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $105.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $88.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of ONEOK from $112.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of ONEOK from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on ONEOK from $83.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ONEOK presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.38.

ONEOK Stock Up 2.5 %

ONEOK stock opened at $112.51 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $65.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.48 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. ONEOK, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.49 and a 1-year high of $112.93.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by ($0.05). ONEOK had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 14.05%. The business had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.81 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.99 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were given a dividend of $0.99 per share. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. ONEOK’s payout ratio is 82.85%.

ONEOK Company Profile

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.