Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. Lowers Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,100 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,230 shares during the quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Blackstone Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 109.1% during the 1st quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $252,006,000 after acquiring an additional 3,373,800 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of 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. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 40.1% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,753,223 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $224,203,000 after buying an additional 1,647,469 shares during the last quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $56,223,000. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 3,821.2% during the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 1,579,718 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $55,180,000 after acquiring an additional 1,539,431 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $45.38 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.49 and a fifty-two week high of $45.82. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.31. 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 stock has a market cap of $55.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07, a PEG ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released 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. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their target price on Williams Companies from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.50.

About Williams Companies

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.