KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Invests $22.47 Million in ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of ONEOK, Inc. (NYSE:OKE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 223,847 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $22,474,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OKE. Kieckhefer Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of ONEOK during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new stake in ONEOK in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in ONEOK in the 4th quarter worth $48,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of ONEOK during the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of ONEOK during the fourth quarter valued at about $51,000. 69.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ONEOK Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of OKE opened at $99.45 on Friday. ONEOK, Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.23 and a twelve month high of $118.07. The company has a market cap of $62.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 1.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $98.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $99.86.

ONEOK (NYSE:OKE) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.11. ONEOK had a return on equity of 16.84% and a net margin of 14.05%. The business had revenue of $7 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.18 billion. As a group, analysts expect that ONEOK, Inc. will post 5.07 EPS for the current year.

ONEOK Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $1.03 dividend. This is a positive change from ONEOK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.14%. ONEOK’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on OKE. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on ONEOK from $107.00 to $102.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays lowered their target price on ONEOK from $105.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of ONEOK in a report on Friday, February 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of ONEOK from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of ONEOK from $109.00 to $102.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $103.31.

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.