The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Stock Position Lifted by Cetera Advisors LLC

Cetera Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 189.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 199,351 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 130,477 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $7,769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $817,736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175,628 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Williams Companies by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $403,801,000 after acquiring an additional 2,039,703 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $306,417,000. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its position in Williams Companies by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $332,828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010,658 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Williams Companies by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 8,421,205 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $328,174,000 after acquiring an additional 55,248 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

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

Williams Companies Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded down $0.91 on Friday, reaching $42.20. The company had a trading volume of 5,833,937 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,237,502. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.49 and a twelve month high of $45.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.73, a P/E/G ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 27.29%. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.50%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. CIBC lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, US Capital Advisors cut Williams Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.77.

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.