Wells Fargo & Company Increases ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) Price Target to $85.00

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) had its price target boosted by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $81.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target points to a potential upside of 10.06% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also commented on OKE. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of ONEOK from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. US Capital Advisors lowered ONEOK from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. UBS Group increased their price target on ONEOK from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on ONEOK from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised ONEOK from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ONEOK currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.58.

ONEOK Stock Performance

NYSE OKE traded up $0.28 on Thursday, reaching $77.23. 2,235,558 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,820,855. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $78.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.95. The firm has a market cap of $45.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.96, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.70. ONEOK has a fifty-two week low of $55.91 and a fifty-two week high of $81.81.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.84 billion. ONEOK had a return on equity of 15.94% and a net margin of 12.54%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.34 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that ONEOK will post 4.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 17th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the utilities provider to reacquire up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at ONEOK

In other ONEOK news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith bought 2,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $75.25 per share, with a total value of $203,175.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at $203,175. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in ONEOK during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. LifeSteps Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of ONEOK during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Peoples Bank KS purchased a new position in shares of ONEOK in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. American National Bank purchased a new stake in ONEOK during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in ONEOK by 90.7% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

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.