The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Bought by Everett Harris & Co. CA

Everett Harris & Co. CA increased its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 10.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,695 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 1,520 shares during the quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $904,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter worth $38,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $55.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $67.57 billion, a PE ratio of 23.39, a PEG ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $56.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.66. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.65 and a twelve month high of $61.46.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WMB. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. CIBC boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

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.