Reaves W H & Co. Inc. Acquires 341,455 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) $WMB

Reaves W H & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 45.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,089,227 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 341,455 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies makes up approximately 1.2% of Reaves W H & Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. owned about 0.09% of Williams Companies worth $69,003,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at $765,164,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 190.3% during the second quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 12,028,186 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $755,490,000 after acquiring an additional 7,884,730 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 27.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,417,821 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $905,583,000 after acquiring an additional 3,089,390 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 39.0% in the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 6,954,733 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $436,827,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950,485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 133,075,340 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,358,462,000 after purchasing an additional 1,912,156 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of WMB opened at $67.95 on Tuesday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $51.58 and a 1 year high of $68.94. The firm has a market cap of $82.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho upgraded Williams Companies to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, December 29th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.64.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 4,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.53, for a total value of $242,120.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 302,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,319,101.85. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 8,000 shares of company stock valued at $498,700 in the last quarter. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Williams Companies

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.