The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Bought by West Paces Advisors Inc.

West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 4.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,839 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 911 shares during the period. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,245,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Williams Companies by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,054,876,000 after buying an additional 1,008,213 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,263,235 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,687,797,000 after buying an additional 540,533 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. increased its position in Williams Companies by 36.5% during the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,025,795,000 after buying an additional 5,068,738 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Williams Companies by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,236,940 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $824,623,000 after buying an additional 1,696,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $575,103,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on WMB. CIBC boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Barclays boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.25.

Williams Companies Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of WMB opened at $59.65 on Tuesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.41 and a 52 week high of $61.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The company has a market capitalization of $72.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.59, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $58.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.32.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 106.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This represents a 8.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.