Occidental Asset Management LLC Buys 15,302 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Occidental Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 23.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 81,461 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 15,302 shares during the period. Occidental Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,175,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $306,417,000. ETF Store Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. ETF Store Inc. now owns 28,444 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $991,000 after purchasing an additional 899 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,636,222 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $91,820,000 after purchasing an additional 518,009 shares during the last quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 59.0% in the 4th quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 660,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $22,988,000 after buying an additional 245,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,350,514 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $49,037,000 after buying an additional 77,524 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB stock traded up $0.26 on Friday, hitting $42.50. 8,506,931 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,084,668. The firm has a market cap of $51.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.86, a PEG ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.98 and a 52 week high of $43.22. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.29% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The company’s revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.47%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $1,513,102.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 60,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,392,840.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. CIBC upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.42.

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.