Everett Harris & Co. CA Raises Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Everett Harris & Co. CA boosted its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 275 shares during the quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $591,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth $306,417,000. ETF Store Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. ETF Store Inc. now owns 28,444 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $991,000 after buying an additional 899 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 24.5% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,636,222 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $91,820,000 after buying an additional 518,009 shares during the last quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 59.0% during the fourth quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 660,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $22,988,000 after acquiring an additional 245,000 shares during the period. Finally, Chickasaw Capital Management LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 3.5% during the first quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 1,644,620 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $64,091,000 after acquiring an additional 56,013 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 60,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on WMB. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Argus upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. US Capital Advisors cut Williams Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. One 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.42.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $42.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.98, a PEG ratio of 6.71 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.20 and a 12 month high of $43.22.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. 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 payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

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.