Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Grows Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 0.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 104,674 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 720 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $4,449,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Little House Capital LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 26.5% during the second quarter. Little House Capital LLC now owns 33,642 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,430,000 after purchasing an additional 7,051 shares during the period. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at about $1,068,000. Autumn Glory Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC now owns 104,763 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,452,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033 shares during the period. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. now owns 448,911 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $19,079,000 after purchasing an additional 14,165 shares during the period. Finally, TIAA Trust National Association acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $236,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 2.4 %

WMB stock opened at $44.45 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.53. The company has a market capitalization of $54.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.68, a PEG ratio of 6.29 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.49 and a twelve month high of $45.81.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WMB shares. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. CIBC upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Finally, Argus raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.83.

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.