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

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 26,237 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,128,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $124,000. Commerce Bank increased its stake in Williams Companies by 25.4% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 65,590 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,284,000 after acquiring an additional 13,291 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 45,506 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,602,000 after buying an additional 7,293 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $671,000. Finally, Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its position in Williams Companies by 28.2% in the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 46,357 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,615,000 after purchasing an additional 10,192 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on WMB shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Argus raised shares of Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.50.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.1 %

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

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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

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.