Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI Sells 200 Shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lowered its holdings in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 4.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in ONEOK by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,237,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,757,405,000 after buying an additional 5,525,010 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in ONEOK in the 4th quarter valued at $297,948,000. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in ONEOK by 37.7% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 13,292,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $843,133,000 after buying an additional 3,636,660 shares during the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. grew its stake in ONEOK by 3,478.3% in the 3rd quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 3,578,316 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $226,973,000 after buying an additional 3,478,316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in ONEOK by 65.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,132,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $515,832,000 after buying an additional 3,229,046 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at ONEOK

In other ONEOK news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith purchased 2,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $75.25 per share, for a total transaction of $203,175.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at $203,175. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

ONEOK Price Performance

Shares of ONEOK stock traded down $0.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $81.06. 1,555,086 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,506,930. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $77.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.71. ONEOK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.91 and a twelve month high of $81.81. The company has a market cap of $47.31 billion, a PE ratio of 14.61, a PEG ratio of 4.95 and a beta of 1.65.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.21 by ($0.03). ONEOK had a net margin of 15.04% and a return on equity of 22.57%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that ONEOK, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

ONEOK announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 17th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the utilities provider to buy up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a $0.99 dividend. This represents a $3.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on OKE shares. Barclays raised their target price on shares of ONEOK from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of ONEOK from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of ONEOK from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of ONEOK from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of ONEOK from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, ONEOK currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.25.

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.