ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) Shares Purchased by Marshall Wace LLP

Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE - Free Report) by 276.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 971,913 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 713,685 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP owned 0.17% of ONEOK worth $97,580,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of OKE. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in ONEOK by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,120,264 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $7,040,075,000 after buying an additional 558,789 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in ONEOK by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,414,781 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,848,844,000 after purchasing an additional 934,007 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in ONEOK by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,037,890 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,405,697,000 after purchasing an additional 357,015 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of ONEOK in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $539,554,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings 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 worth $422,373,000 after acquiring an additional 3,418,207 shares during the period. 69.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ONEOK Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of OKE stock traded up $1.64 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $83.46. 540,310 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,151,441. The stock has a market cap of $52.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $99.31. ONEOK, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.48 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.11. ONEOK had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 14.05%. The company had revenue of $7 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.18 billion. Equities analysts expect that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.94%. This is an increase from ONEOK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. ONEOK's dividend payout ratio is presently 79.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of ONEOK from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $110.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Citigroup began coverage on ONEOK in a research note on Friday, February 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on ONEOK from $111.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. US Capital Advisors raised ONEOK from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of ONEOK from $109.00 to $102.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $106.42.

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.