Eagle Bay Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 7.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,631 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 319 shares during the quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter worth approximately $284,000. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 106,170 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,847,000 after buying an additional 8,015 shares in the last quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,892 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,273,000 after buying an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 34.6% in the 3rd quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,909 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $452,000 after buying an additional 2,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 27,203 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,242,000 after buying an additional 1,716 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on WMB. Scotiabank upped their target price on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America began coverage on Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. CIBC upped their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.62.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of WMB traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $52.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,307,988 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,236,698. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $52.82. The stock has a market cap of $63.55 billion, a PE ratio of 21.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.88 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The company’s 50 day moving average is $46.65 and its 200 day moving average is $43.07.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Williams Companies

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises natural gas pipelines; Transco, Northwest pipeline, MountainWest, and related natural gas storage facilities; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.