Advisor Resource Council Takes Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Advisor Resource Council acquired a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 7,013 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $320,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empirical Finance LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 27,620 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,076,000 after purchasing an additional 1,468 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 189.8% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 169,692 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $6,613,000 after buying an additional 111,143 shares in the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the first quarter worth $545,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 22.2% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 125,601 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,895,000 after acquiring an additional 22,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Equity Investment Corp boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% during the first quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 3,205,584 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $124,922,000 after acquiring an additional 102,267 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.38.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $55.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a PEG ratio of 6.19 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $32.65 and a one year high of $55.79. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.14.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 27.36%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.