Intech Investment Management LLC Buys 16,885 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 47.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 52,845 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 16,885 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 51,927 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,370,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $1,918,000 after acquiring an additional 39,880 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.3% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its position in Williams Companies by 402.9% during the 3rd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 91,983 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,199,000 after acquiring an additional 73,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 248,309 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $11,335,000 after purchasing an additional 16,064 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. CIBC increased their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. 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. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.54.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $59.65 on Monday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $60.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The stock has a market cap of $72.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.17, a P/E/G ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $51.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.73.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. Analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. 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 3.19%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

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.