Colonial River Investments LLC Makes New Investment in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Colonial River Investments LLC purchased a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 7,651 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $349,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 70.1% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 62,692 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,862,000 after purchasing an additional 25,828 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 28,922 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after buying an additional 844 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 127.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 25,712 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,174,000 after acquiring an additional 14,389 shares in the last quarter. XML Financial LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 6,850 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $313,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RKL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter worth about $267,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $56.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.65 and a 1-year high of $56.80. The stock has a market cap of $68.64 billion, a PE ratio of 23.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.37 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $48.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.34.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com cut Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.38.

About Williams Companies

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.