Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Has $25.82 Million Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 115.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 565,663 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 303,168 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $25,823,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $817,736,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175,628 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% in the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 144,713 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $332,828,000 after buying an additional 1,010,658 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $325,726,000 after buying an additional 618,056 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB stock opened at $51.54 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.65 and a twelve month high of $52.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The company has a market cap of $62.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.10 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s fifty day moving average is $46.11 and its 200-day moving average is $42.75.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.9 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.46.

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.