Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,307 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 549 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 15.7% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 108,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,221,000 after purchasing an additional 14,672 shares in the last quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 51,927 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,370,000 after buying an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1,855.7% in the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 42,029 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,918,000 after acquiring an additional 39,880 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter worth about $1,036,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 58.1% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,404,198 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $54,692,000 after acquiring an additional 515,823 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Mizuho upped their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.0 %

Williams Companies stock opened at $56.90 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $69.36 billion, a PE ratio of 24.01, a P/E/G ratio of 6.37 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.65 and a 12 month high of $57.33. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

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.