Burney Co. Buys 1,425 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Burney Co. boosted its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 48,557 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,425 shares during the quarter. Burney Co.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,628,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Williams Companies by 19.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,631,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,605 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3,490.2% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,600,239 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $86,605,000 after buying an additional 1,555,667 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 224.1% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,334,307 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $60,909,000 after buying an additional 922,550 shares in the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 2,989,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $136,461,000 after acquiring an additional 718,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,398,004,000 after acquiring an additional 520,663 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value 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. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE:WMB opened at $57.95 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.46. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $60.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $70.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.45, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.06.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. Analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on WMB. CIBC raised their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

Williams Companies Company 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.