ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) Shares Bought by Salem Investment Counselors Inc.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its position in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 1.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 18,283 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 229 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $1,814,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OKE. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in ONEOK during the fourth quarter valued at $539,554,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in ONEOK by 433.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,206,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $422,373,000 after buying an additional 3,418,207 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in ONEOK by 240.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,790,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $280,194,000 after buying an additional 1,971,147 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in ONEOK during the fourth quarter valued at $182,694,000. Finally, ClearBridge Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in ONEOK during the fourth quarter valued at $177,045,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

ONEOK Stock Performance

NYSE:OKE opened at $83.74 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $83.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The company has a market cap of $52.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.94. ONEOK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.48 and a twelve month high of $118.07.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.24). The business had revenue of $6.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.23 billion. ONEOK had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 14.05%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on OKE. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of ONEOK from $110.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of ONEOK from $96.00 to $93.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of ONEOK from $102.00 to $93.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of ONEOK from $111.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of ONEOK from $101.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, ONEOK currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $103.69.

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.