Scotiabank Begins Coverage on ONEOK (NYSE:OKE)

Research analysts at Scotiabank began coverage on shares of ONEOK (NYSE:OKE - Get Free Report) in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set a "sector outperform" rating and a $109.00 price target on the utilities provider's stock. Scotiabank's price target would indicate a potential upside of 7.03% from the stock's current price.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on OKE. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on ONEOK from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley raised ONEOK from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the company from $103.00 to $111.00 in a report on Monday, September 16th. Mizuho raised ONEOK to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. US Capital Advisors upgraded shares of ONEOK from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on ONEOK in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $105.00 price objective for the company. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $101.54.

ONEOK Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of OKE traded down $1.01 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $101.84. The company had a trading volume of 3,023,550 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,642,142. 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 has a 52-week low of $67.05 and a 52-week high of $118.07. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $105.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.61. The firm has a market cap of $59.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.31, a P/E/G ratio of 5.24 and a beta of 1.70.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.23 by ($0.05). ONEOK had a net margin of 14.05% and a return on equity of 16.84%. The company had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that ONEOK will post 5.1 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OKE. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ONEOK in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,768,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ONEOK in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of ONEOK during the second quarter worth $117,000. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in ONEOK by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,251,545 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $102,063,000 after buying an additional 72,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in ONEOK by 10.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 742,649 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $60,563,000 after purchasing an additional 72,241 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.13% 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.