Anchor Investment Management LLC Grows Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 15.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,479 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $233,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 5.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $817,736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175,628 shares during the period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% during the second 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 buying an additional 144,713 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake 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 buying an additional 2,039,703 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $410,064,000 after buying an additional 311,530 shares during the period. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 13.4% during the first 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $49.63 on Friday. 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 $60.49 billion, a PE ratio of 20.85, a P/E/G ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.00. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.63 and a fifty-two week high of $49.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the topic of several research reports. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com lowered Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.23.

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.