West Paces Advisors Inc. Increases Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 3.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 17,557 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 660 shares during the period. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $684,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WMB. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $306,417,000. ETF Store Inc. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. ETF Store Inc. now owns 28,444 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $991,000 after purchasing an additional 899 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,636,222 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $91,820,000 after purchasing an additional 518,009 shares during the period. Rheos Capital Works Inc. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 59.0% during the fourth quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 660,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $22,988,000 after purchasing an additional 245,000 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,350,514 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $49,037,000 after purchasing an additional 77,524 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB traded down $0.60 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $42.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,932,698 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,728,423. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.77, a PEG ratio of 6.73 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.90 and a fifty-two week high of $43.22.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.29% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The business’s revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Argus raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $1,513,102.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 60,410 shares in the company, valued at $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Company 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.