Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Buys 1,427 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 141,508 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,427 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $6,460,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blackstone Inc. raised its position in Williams Companies by 109.1% in the 1st quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $252,006,000 after buying an additional 3,373,800 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at approximately $57,220,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 5.9% in the first 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 in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 last quarter. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON grew its position in Williams Companies by 11.8% in the first 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America began coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.38.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $55.58 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $67.75 billion, a PE ratio of 23.45, a P/E/G ratio of 5.73 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $57.33. The business has a 50 day moving average of $49.48 and a 200-day moving average of $44.74.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

About Williams Companies

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.