King Luther Capital Management Corp Raises Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 31.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 99,496 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 24,008 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $5,385,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WMB. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the third quarter valued at about $300,000. XML Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 6,850 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $313,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.0% in the third quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 28,922 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after acquiring an additional 844 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 60,307 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,753,000 after acquiring an additional 549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the third quarter worth $209,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 131,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,107,758. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. CIBC increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.07.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of WMB opened at $54.96 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.51 and a 1-year high of $61.46. The company has a market capitalization of $67.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.03, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.33.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.29%.

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.