Alta Advisers Ltd Grows Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Alta Advisers Ltd grew its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 55.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,149 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Alta Advisers Ltd’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Menard Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Sandy Spring Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Hoey Investments Inc. purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Transce3nd LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. CIBC boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.25.

Williams Companies Trading Down 6.4%

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $58.82 on Wednesday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.41 and a 1 year high of $63.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $71.72 billion, a PE ratio of 31.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.64 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $59.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.72.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.95% and a net margin of 21.18%. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.59 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 106.95%.

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.