Blair William & Co. IL Has $2.03 Million Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 26.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,669 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 9,918 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,026,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 2.8% during the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 9,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its position in shares of 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 worth $1,326,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 22,683 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $884,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the period. Everett Harris & Co. CA increased its stake in Williams Companies by 1.8% in the first quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 15,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $591,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schulhoff & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on WMB. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One equities 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.50.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $46.22 on Tuesday. 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 has a market capitalization of $56.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.42, a P/E/G ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.49 and a 1 year high of $46.28. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.45.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.11%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.