Occidental Asset Management LLC Increases Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Occidental Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,003 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,594 shares during the period. Occidental Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,795,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Motco grew its stake in Williams Companies by 306.2% during the 4th quarter. Motco now owns 784 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 52.5% in the 2nd quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 915 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1,178.4% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 946 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 872 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Management Professionals Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 127.6% in the 1st quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 1,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 610 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Scott A. Hallam sold 7,193 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.00, for a total value of $237,369.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 226,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,490,109. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Williams Companies news, SVP Scott A. Hallam sold 7,193 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.00, for a total transaction of $237,369.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 226,973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,490,109. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Scott A. Hallam sold 7,194 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $230,208.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 234,166 shares in the company, valued at $7,493,312. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,581 shares of company stock valued at $690,591 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of WMB traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $34.42. The stock had a trading volume of 1,043,043 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,869,546. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.80 and a 1-year high of $35.46. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.50. The company has a market cap of $41.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75, a PEG ratio of 5.14 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.49 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 2nd. The pipeline company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.03. Williams Companies had a net margin of 23.07% and a return on equity of 17.35%. The business had revenue of $2.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.66 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 25th. Investors of record on Monday, September 11th will be given a $0.4475 dividend. This represents a $1.79 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 8th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 82.11%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WMB. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $39.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 29th. CIBC started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, July 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. TD Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 22nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.27.

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 Transco and Northwest natural gas pipelines; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region, as well as various petrochemical and feedstock pipelines.