The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Acquired by National Pension Service

National Pension Service increased its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 17.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,379,577 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 348,139 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.20% of Williams Companies worth $108,628,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 5.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $817,736,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175,628 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. boosted 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 period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in 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 valued at $410,064,000 after acquiring an additional 311,530 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP boosted 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 valued at $332,828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 618,056 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $52.14 on Tuesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $52.85. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The company has a market capitalization of $63.55 billion, a PE ratio of 22.38, a P/E/G ratio of 5.78 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their target price on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. CIBC upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.62.

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.