The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Purchased by Occidental Asset Management LLC

Occidental Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 23.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 81,461 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,302 shares during the quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at $306,417,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 35.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,553,779 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $321,867,000 after acquiring an additional 2,482,331 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 69.2% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,105,754 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $143,003,000 after purchasing an additional 1,679,452 shares during the period. First Financial Bankshares Inc acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $56,223,000. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3,821.2% in the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 1,579,718 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $55,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,431 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on WMB. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Argus raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.42.

Insider Activity

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

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of WMB traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $42.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,506,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,084,668. The firm has a market cap of $51.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.86, a P/E/G ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.98 and a 1-year high of $43.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The company has a 50 day moving average of $40.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.55.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 27.29%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.47%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 79.83%.

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.