The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Stake Boosted by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,282,735 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 192,130 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.76% of Williams Companies worth $302,897,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Achmea Investment Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 101,345 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,307,000 after purchasing an additional 2,179 shares in the last quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 1st quarter worth about $25,029,697,000. Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 144,209 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,706,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares in the last quarter. Courier Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,883,000. Finally, Level Four Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,232 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $497,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Barclays raised their price target on Williams Companies from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $35.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 22nd. Finally, TD Securities lowered their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.33.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $35.38 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.96. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.80 and a twelve month high of $36.32. The firm has a market cap of $43.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.92 and a beta of 1.14.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 1st. The pipeline company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 24.52% and a return on equity of 16.90%. The business had revenue of $2.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.48 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.4475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 7th. This represents a $1.79 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.06%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 80.27%.

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.