O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. Increases Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. increased its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 43.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,603 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 3,204 shares during the period. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $484,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $817,736,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175,628 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.2% during the second 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Williams Companies by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $403,801,000 after purchasing an additional 2,039,703 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 311,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 13.4% in the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $332,828,000 after buying an additional 1,010,658 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.08.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $48.94 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.65 billion, a PE ratio of 20.56, a P/E/G ratio of 6.79 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.65 and a 12 month high of $49.94. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $44.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.14.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio 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.