Arbor Investment Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 5,000 The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Arbor Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WMB. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,175,628 shares during the period. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $538,482,000 after buying an additional 144,713 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $410,064,000 after acquiring an additional 311,530 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,010,658 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 8.8% during the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $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

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. CIBC upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. One 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 company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE WMB traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $52.54. The stock had a trading volume of 1,354,860 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,227,406. 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 Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $52.85. The firm has a market cap of $64.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.88 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.36.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.55%.

Williams Companies Company 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.