7,167 Shares in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Purchased by Code Waechter LLC

Code Waechter LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 7,167 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $327,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 5.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $817,736,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175,628 shares during the period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.2% during the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $538,482,000 after buying an additional 144,713 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Williams Companies by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $403,801,000 after buying an additional 2,039,703 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $410,064,000 after buying an additional 311,530 shares during the period. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP boosted its position in Williams Companies by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $332,828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010,658 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock traded up $1.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $50.48. The stock had a trading volume of 9,246,780 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,484,763. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.65 and a 1-year high of $50.53. The firm has a market cap of $61.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.67, a PEG ratio of 6.89 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s fifty day moving average is $45.43 and its 200-day moving average is $42.40.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company 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 company earned $0.42 EPS. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.76%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WMB. StockNews.com downgraded Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.08.

Williams Companies Profile

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.