ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) Downgraded by Wells Fargo & Company to Equal Weight

Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $107.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Bank of America started coverage on ONEOK in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial raised their price objective on ONEOK from $99.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays boosted their target price on ONEOK from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of ONEOK from $88.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of ONEOK to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.00.

ONEOK Price Performance

Shares of OKE traded up $0.88 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $98.52. 1,082,352 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,802,287. The company has a market cap of $57.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 5.24 and a beta of 1.69. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $103.92 and its 200 day moving average is $92.28. ONEOK has a fifty-two week low of $67.05 and a fifty-two week high of $118.07. 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 Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.05). ONEOK had a net margin of 14.05% and a return on equity of 16.84%. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that ONEOK will post 5.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were given a $0.99 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.02%. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 82.85%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ONEOK

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. National Pension Service raised its holdings in ONEOK by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 763,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,608,000 after purchasing an additional 12,349 shares during the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of ONEOK by 3.8% during the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 141,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,871,000 after buying an additional 5,175 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LP bought a new position in ONEOK during the second quarter worth $1,225,000. Point72 Europe London LLP acquired a new position in ONEOK in the second quarter valued at $15,008,000. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV boosted its position in ONEOK by 11.1% during the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 54,557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,972,000 after acquiring an additional 5,451 shares during the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.