Erste Asset Management GmbH Invests $6.55 Million in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 145,038 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,554,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SouthState Corp bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter worth about $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 50.4% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America began coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.79.

Williams Companies Stock Down 3.5 %

Williams Companies stock opened at $56.45 on Tuesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.65 and a 1-year high of $60.36. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $52.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82, a PEG ratio of 6.00 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. 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 is currently 80.17%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.