Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Raises Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 26,237 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,128,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 5.9% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $817,736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175,628 shares during the period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $538,482,000 after purchasing an additional 144,713 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 21.3% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position 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 last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP boosted its position 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 worth $332,828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010,658 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of WMB opened at $45.38 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07, a PEG ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.49 and a 1-year high of $45.82. The company has a 50-day moving average of $44.06 and a 200 day moving average of $41.35.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on WMB shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Argus upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.