Park Avenue Securities LLC Grows Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 62,159 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,166 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,838,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 9,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 0.8% in the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 31,206 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,326,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Everett Harris & Co. CA boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 15,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $591,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Schulhoff & Co. Inc. now owns 17,883 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,770 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank raised 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. Barclays raised their target price on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday. Argus upgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.08.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Up 2.9 %

WMB stock opened at $49.63 on Friday. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.63 and a 12 month high of $49.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.49 billion, a PE ratio of 20.85, a P/E/G ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

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.