LMR Partners LLP Buys Shares of 5,608 The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,608 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% in the third quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 51,927 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,370,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1,855.7% in the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 42,029 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,918,000 after acquiring an additional 39,880 shares during the period. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 6.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 248,309 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $11,335,000 after acquiring an additional 16,064 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $165,130,000 after acquiring an additional 9,800 shares during the period. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 2.3% in the first quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 713,452 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $27,803,000 after acquiring an additional 16,168 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’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 in the company, valued at $13,777,218. This represents a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $58.70 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.40. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.65 and a 52 week high of $59.17. The company has a market capitalization of $71.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.77, a PEG ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 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, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. CIBC lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.54.

Williams Companies Company 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.