Kozak & Associates Inc. Buys 1,229 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Kozak & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 43.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,056 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,229 shares during the period. Kozak & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 658,515 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $27,987,000 after acquiring an additional 44,074 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 20.1% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 411,757 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $17,454,000 after purchasing an additional 69,050 shares during the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.2% in the second quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 185,767 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,895,000 after purchasing an additional 2,117 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 98,155 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,172,000 after buying an additional 12,301 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.3% in the second quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 127,806 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,432,000 after buying an additional 2,922 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays raised their price target on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Bank of America initiated coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.07.

Williams Companies Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:WMB traded down $0.82 on Monday, hitting $55.78. 2,666,908 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,931,841. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $60.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $55.39 and a 200-day moving average of $48.79. The stock has a market cap of $68.00 billion, a PE ratio of 23.54, a PEG ratio of 5.60 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

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.