Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. Has $15.32 Million Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Richard C. Young & CO. LTD. lifted its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 335,694 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,796 shares during the period. Williams Companies makes up approximately 1.7% of Richard C. Young & CO. LTD.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Richard C. Young & CO. LTD.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $15,324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Blackstone Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 109.1% during the first quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $252,006,000 after purchasing an additional 3,373,800 shares in the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the first quarter worth about $57,220,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 20.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,117,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $259,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,158 shares during the period. BROOKFIELD Corp ON lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 11.8% during the 1st quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 5,896,375 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $229,782,000 after purchasing an additional 623,820 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $325,726,000 after purchasing an additional 618,056 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Barclays increased their target price on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.54.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $56.55 on Monday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $57.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The company has a market capitalization of $68.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.83 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 80.17%.

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 dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.