Interval Partners LP Purchases Shares of 68,415 The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Interval Partners LP purchased a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 68,415 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,908,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. 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 valued at $817,736,000 after buying an additional 1,175,628 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $538,482,000 after purchasing an additional 144,713 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $403,801,000 after purchasing an additional 2,039,703 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $410,064,000 after buying an additional 311,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $332,828,000 after buying an additional 1,010,658 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE WMB opened at $46.22 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $44.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $56.33 billion, a PE ratio of 19.42, a P/E/G ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.49 and a 52-week high of $46.28.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.11%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on WMB shares. UBS Group increased their target price on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.50.

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.