Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 6,454 Shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE - Free Report) by 50.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,329 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,454 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in ONEOK were worth $1,941,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in ONEOK during the fourth quarter worth about $539,554,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted 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 worth $422,373,000 after acquiring an additional 3,418,207 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of ONEOK in the fourth quarter valued at $182,694,000. ClearBridge Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in ONEOK in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $177,045,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in ONEOK by 445.4% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 1,526,899 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $153,319,000 after acquiring an additional 1,246,963 shares during the last quarter. 69.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OKE has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on ONEOK from $111.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on ONEOK from $109.00 to $102.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of ONEOK from $105.00 to $101.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of ONEOK in a report on Friday, February 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on ONEOK from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ONEOK currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $105.00.

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ONEOK Price Performance

Shares of OKE traded up $5.97 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $84.68. 7,616,384 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,150,349. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. ONEOK, Inc. has a one year low of $75.48 and a one year high of $118.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.71, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50-day moving average of $95.26 and a 200 day moving average of $99.77.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $7 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.18 billion. ONEOK had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 14.05%. As a group, equities analysts expect that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.87%. This is a positive change from ONEOK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. ONEOK's payout ratio is presently 79.69%.

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.