Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Cuts Stock Position in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its stake in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 513,033 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 13,476 shares during the quarter. ONEOK comprises approximately 1.1% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System owned about 0.09% of ONEOK worth $51,509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of OKE. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. grew its holdings in ONEOK by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. McAdam LLC grew its holdings in ONEOK by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 2,612 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in ONEOK by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,262,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its holdings in ONEOK by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 8,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $965,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, Morton Capital Management LLC CA grew its holdings in ONEOK by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Morton Capital Management LLC CA now owns 7,313 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $734,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OKE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on ONEOK from $105.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup began coverage on ONEOK in a report on Friday, February 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on ONEOK from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. US Capital Advisors raised ONEOK from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on ONEOK from $109.00 to $102.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $103.31.

ONEOK Stock Down 0.5 %

OKE opened at $97.95 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.74. ONEOK, Inc. has a 52 week low of $76.23 and a 52 week high of $118.07. The firm has a market cap of $61.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.49, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.11. ONEOK had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 14.05%. The firm had revenue of $7 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.18 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This is an increase from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.21%. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is 79.69%.

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.