Proficio Capital Partners LLC Purchases New Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 326,639 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,678,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in Williams Companies by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 177,734 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $9,619,000 after purchasing an additional 36,226 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth $365,000. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 53.9% in the 4th quarter. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co now owns 9,420 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $510,000 after buying an additional 3,300 shares during the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 180,825 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,786,000 after buying an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $170,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on WMB. Barclays boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.21.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $58.25 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $71.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.83, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.73. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $35.38 and a one year high of $61.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 109.29%.

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.