BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Purchases 56,509 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 145.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 95,359 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,509 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,716,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $306,417,000. ETF Store Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. ETF Store Inc. now owns 28,444 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $991,000 after buying an additional 899 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 24.5% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,636,222 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $91,820,000 after buying an additional 518,009 shares during the last quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 59.0% in the 4th quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 660,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $22,988,000 after buying an additional 245,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chickasaw Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 1,644,620 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $64,091,000 after buying an additional 56,013 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $1,513,102.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 60,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.2 %

WMB traded down $0.09 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $42.30. 750,365 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,537,995. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.64 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $41.10 and a 200 day moving average of $37.97. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.49 and a 12-month high of $43.22.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.29% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.49%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $34.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, CIBC increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.42.

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.