Morgan Stanley Upgrades ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) to Overweight

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has $111.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $103.00.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on OKE. Mizuho increased their price objective on ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Tudor Pickering upgraded ONEOK to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on ONEOK from $81.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on ONEOK from $89.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on ONEOK from $85.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $92.38.

ONEOK Price Performance

OKE opened at $93.90 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $86.83 and a 200-day moving average of $82.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.84, a PEG ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 1.67. ONEOK has a 12-month low of $60.58 and a 12-month high of $95.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $4.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.52 billion. ONEOK had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 13.41%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that ONEOK will post 5.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.22%. ONEOK’s payout ratio is presently 92.09%.

Insider Transactions at ONEOK

In other news, Director Pattye L. Moore sold 3,379 shares of ONEOK stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.01, for a total value of $310,901.79. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ONEOK

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in OKE. Hilltop Holdings Inc. increased its stake in ONEOK by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 16,525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,160,000 after acquiring an additional 1,124 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in ONEOK by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 208,063 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,610,000 after acquiring an additional 21,657 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC increased its stake in ONEOK by 4,460.2% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 134,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,773,000 after acquiring an additional 131,441 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in ONEOK by 2,643.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,170,739 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $82,209,000 after acquiring an additional 1,128,066 shares during the period. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in ONEOK by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 121,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,510,000 after acquiring an additional 9,722 shares during the period. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.