LPL Financial LLC Sells 3,903 Shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

LPL Financial LLC lessened its holdings in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 0.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,247,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,903 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.21% of ONEOK worth $113,698,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on OKE. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on ONEOK from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of ONEOK from $85.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of ONEOK from $94.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of ONEOK from $112.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Mizuho raised ONEOK to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.38.

ONEOK Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE OKE opened at $117.04 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $98.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $88.86. ONEOK, Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.49 and a 52-week high of $118.07. The company has a market cap of $68.37 billion, a PE ratio of 24.49, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.66. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.81 billion. ONEOK had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 14.05%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.15 EPS for the current year.

ONEOK Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a $0.99 dividend. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is 82.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ONEOK news, Director Pattye L. Moore sold 3,379 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.01, for a total value of $310,901.79. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

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.