The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Bought by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 99.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 206,861 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 103,221 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $11,195,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 104.5% during the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 676,385 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,822,000 after purchasing an additional 345,684 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,529,000. Creative Planning increased its stake in Williams Companies by 13.5% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 181,063 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,695,000 after buying an additional 21,504 shares during the period. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter worth $242,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 20.2% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 207,629 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,824,000 after buying an additional 34,870 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on WMB shares. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. CIBC raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB opened at $59.64 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.65 and a twelve month high of $61.46. The stock has a market cap of $72.70 billion, a PE ratio of 25.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s 50 day moving average is $56.47 and its 200-day moving average is $50.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.