Larson Financial Group LLC Boosts Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 3.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 58,085 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,796 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $306,417,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 108,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,221,000 after acquiring an additional 14,672 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 145.5% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 95,359 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,716,000 after acquiring an additional 56,509 shares during the period. ETF Store Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. ETF Store Inc. now owns 28,444 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $991,000 after purchasing an additional 899 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,636,222 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $91,820,000 after buying an additional 518,009 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.83.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.8 %

Williams Companies stock traded down $0.36 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $45.19. 584,091 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,391,758. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $55.08 billion, a PE ratio of 19.14, a P/E/G ratio of 6.29 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $43.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.51. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.49 and a 12 month high of $45.81.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. Williams Companies’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

Williams Companies 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.