ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,790,000 shares, a decrease of 13.7% from the February 28th total of 11,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,950,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days. Approximately 1.7% of the company's stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of ONEOK

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC grew its holdings in ONEOK by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,171,917 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $106,797,000 after acquiring an additional 122,362 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in ONEOK by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 4,721 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $430,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of ONEOK during the third quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Hilltop Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in ONEOK by 36.7% in the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 24,538 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,236,000 after acquiring an additional 6,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in ONEOK by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 406,984 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $37,080,000 after purchasing an additional 14,910 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.13% of the company's stock.

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ONEOK Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:OKE traded down $0.14 during trading on Monday, reaching $80.72. The company had a trading volume of 11,152,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,113,706. ONEOK has a 12 month low of $75.73 and a 12 month high of $118.07. The company has a fifty day moving average of $97.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $100.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.20. 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 (NYSE:OKE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $7 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.18 billion. ONEOK had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 14.05%. Equities research analysts forecast that ONEOK will post 5.07 earnings per share for the current year.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from ONEOK's previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.10%. ONEOK's dividend payout ratio is currently 79.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on OKE shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of ONEOK from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wolfe Research raised ONEOK from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $110.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on ONEOK from $111.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of ONEOK in a research report on Friday, February 28th. They set a "buy" rating and a $110.00 price target for the company. Finally, US Capital Advisors raised shares of ONEOK from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $105.00.

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.