Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Buys 1,137 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 10.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,865 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 1,137 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $504,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew 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 valued at $817,736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175,628 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $403,801,000 after buying an additional 2,039,703 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth $306,417,000. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 13.4% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $332,828,000 after buying an additional 1,010,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.4% in the first quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,046,096 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $274,586,000 after acquiring an additional 27,233 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $45.55 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $43.43 and its 200 day moving average is $40.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.51 billion, a PE ratio of 19.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.29 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.49 and a 1 year high of $45.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Scotiabank upped their target price on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $42.83.

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.