The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Bought by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 844,464 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 77,253 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.07% of Williams Companies worth $38,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 108,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,221,000 after acquiring an additional 14,672 shares in the last quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 51,927 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,370,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1,855.7% during the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 42,029 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,918,000 after buying an additional 39,880 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,036,000. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 248,309 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $11,335,000 after buying an additional 16,064 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WMB. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. CIBC upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $56.55 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $68.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.86, a PEG ratio of 5.83 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.65 and a 52 week high of $57.33. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $49.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.17%.

About Williams Companies

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.