The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Acquired by Atomi Financial Group Inc.

Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 34.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,301 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,121 shares during the quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $562,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WMB. Blackstone Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 109.1% in the 1st quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $252,006,000 after buying an additional 3,373,800 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Williams Companies by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $403,801,000 after buying an additional 2,039,703 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 40.1% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,753,223 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $224,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,647,469 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the first quarter worth about $57,220,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $817,736,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175,628 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on WMB shares. Argus raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. UBS Group upped their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.08.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of WMB opened at $49.47 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $60.29 billion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.90 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $49.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The company’s fifty day moving average is $45.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.26.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. Analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.84%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.