Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Boosts Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 39.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,656 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,724 shares during the quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 5.9% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $817,736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175,628 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lifted 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $403,801,000 after acquiring an additional 2,039,703 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $306,417,000. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its stake in Williams Companies by 13.4% in the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $332,828,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010,658 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Scotiabank upped 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $42.83.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $45.03 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.49 and a 1-year high of $45.81. The business has a 50-day moving average of $43.79 and a 200-day moving average of $40.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $54.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.92, a PEG ratio of 6.19 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

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.