Empirical Finance LLC Has $994,000 Stock Holdings in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

Empirical Finance LLC increased its stake in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,903 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 830 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in ONEOK were worth $994,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of ONEOK during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new position in ONEOK during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in ONEOK in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ONEOK in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of ONEOK during the third quarter worth $44,000. Institutional investors own 69.13% of the company’s stock.

ONEOK Price Performance

NYSE OKE opened at $109.81 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.81. ONEOK, Inc. has a 52-week low of $64.68 and a 52-week high of $110.05. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $96.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.64. The stock has a market cap of $64.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97, a PEG ratio of 5.48 and a beta of 1.66.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.81 billion. ONEOK had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 14.05%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

ONEOK Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were given a dividend of $0.99 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $3.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio is currently 82.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OKE has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on ONEOK from $112.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of ONEOK from $83.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of ONEOK from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $103.00 to $111.00 in a report on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of ONEOK in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on ONEOK from $89.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ONEOK news, Director Pattye L. Moore sold 3,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.01, for a total transaction of $310,901.79. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

ONEOK 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.