OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 64.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 21,043 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,257 shares during the quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $961,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. increased its position in Williams Companies by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $538,482,000 after buying an additional 144,713 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,648,918 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $410,064,000 after acquiring an additional 311,530 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% during the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $325,726,000 after acquiring an additional 618,056 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 109.1% in the 1st quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $252,006,000 after purchasing an additional 3,373,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 20.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,117,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $259,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,158 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the firm’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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was 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 $13,777,218. This represents a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho increased 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. CIBC upped their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.54.

Williams Companies Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $57.86 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.65 and a 12 month high of $58.10. The stock has a market cap of $70.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.41, a P/E/G ratio of 5.83 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.17.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 80.17%.

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.