Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB Shares Bought by Machina Capital S.A.S.

Machina Capital S.A.S. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 122.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 41,213 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,681 shares during the period. Machina Capital S.A.S.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 52.7% during the 3rd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 71,297 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,517,000 after purchasing an additional 24,599 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 3.1% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,540,556 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $287,644,000 after purchasing an additional 134,777 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 27.9% during the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 19,653 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,245,000 after buying an additional 4,284 shares during the period. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.4% during the third quarter. Adell Harriman & Carpenter Inc. now owns 449,147 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $28,453,000 after buying an additional 6,040 shares during the period. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 16.2% during the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen increased their target price on Williams Companies from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Mizuho raised shares of Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.64.

Williams Companies Trading Up 3.2%

NYSE WMB opened at $68.45 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.60 billion, a PE ratio of 35.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $61.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.21. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $51.58 and a 52 week high of $68.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.87 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 20.61%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 103.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.39, for a total value of $132,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 293,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,488,452.55. This represents a 0.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,000 shares of company stock worth $498,700. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Company Profile

Williams Companies, Inc (NYSE: WMB) is a U.S.-based energy infrastructure company focused on the midstream segment of the natural gas value chain. The company develops, owns and operates assets that gather, process, transport and store natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Its operations support the movement of gas from production areas to end users including utilities, power generators, industrial customers and export facilities.

Williams’s product and service offering includes interstate and intrastate pipeline transmission, gas-gathering systems, processing facilities that remove impurities and separate NGLs, storage services and fractionation and transportation of NGL products.