Vontobel Holding Ltd. Purchases 347 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,590 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $986,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 108,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,221,000 after purchasing an additional 14,672 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 145.5% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 95,359 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,716,000 after buying an additional 56,509 shares during the period. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 51,927 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,370,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,364,000. Finally, M&G Plc bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,036,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America began coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.46.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $52.36 on Monday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.65 and a 12 month high of $52.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.47, a P/E/G ratio of 5.88 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.89.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.63%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 81.55%.

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.