O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. Buys 3,307 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. grew its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 31.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,910 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,307 shares during the period. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $753,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,631,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,605 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3,490.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,600,239 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $86,605,000 after acquiring an additional 1,555,667 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 224.1% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,334,307 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $60,909,000 after acquiring an additional 922,550 shares during the period. Castle Hook Partners LP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 2,989,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $136,461,000 after acquiring an additional 718,915 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,398,004,000 after purchasing an additional 520,663 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $59.22 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $60.36. The business has a 50 day moving average of $56.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.59. The company has a market capitalization of $72.19 billion, a PE ratio of 24.99, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.06.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

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.