ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.99

ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of 0.99 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.08%.

ONEOK has increased its dividend by an average of 0.7% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. ONEOK has a dividend payout ratio of 72.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect ONEOK to earn $5.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 71.7%.

ONEOK Stock Up 0.3 %

OKE stock traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $77.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,304,949 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,035,107. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $45.45 billion, a PE ratio of 14.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.65. ONEOK has a 12 month low of $55.91 and a 12 month high of $80.81. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $76.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.86.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.21 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. ONEOK had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 15.04%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that ONEOK will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on OKE shares. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $71.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of ONEOK from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of ONEOK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of ONEOK from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. One equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ONEOK has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.25.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Wayne Thomas Smith bought 2,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $75.25 per share, with a total value of $203,175.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 2,700 shares in the company, valued at $203,175. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ONEOK

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 21,637 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,335,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Buckingham Strategic Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Buckingham Strategic Partners LLC now owns 5,294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of ONEOK by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 10,318 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $729,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in ONEOK by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $295,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc grew its holdings in ONEOK by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 7,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $477,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

ONEOK announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 17th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the utilities provider to repurchase up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.