Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Acquires 12,650 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. lifted its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 5.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 234,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,650 shares during the period. Williams Companies accounts for 1.4% of Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $10,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $817,736,000 after buying an additional 1,175,628 shares during the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 144,713 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $410,064,000 after acquiring an additional 311,530 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 13.4% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $332,828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 8.8% during the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $325,726,000 after purchasing an additional 618,056 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $52.24 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $63.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.42, a P/E/G ratio of 5.87 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $46.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.14. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $32.65 and a one year high of $52.82.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 81.55%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WMB. UBS Group upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.62.

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.