Russell Investments Group Ltd. Buys 123,881 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB – Get Rating) by 9.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,424,263 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 123,881 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.12% of Williams Companies worth $40,814,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WMB. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in Williams Companies by 85.8% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 16,352,215 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $546,327,000 after buying an additional 7,551,749 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Williams Companies by 19.0% in the 2nd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 30,845,787 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $962,697,000 after buying an additional 4,925,183 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Williams Companies by 200.1% in the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,286,535 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $164,993,000 after buying an additional 3,525,097 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 1st quarter worth approximately $76,303,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in Williams Companies by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 8,639,780 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $247,357,000 after buying an additional 2,258,745 shares during the period. 85.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.30, for a total transaction of $343,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 188,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,465,172.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 28,500 shares of company stock worth $971,300 over the last ninety days. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Williams Companies from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $39.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Friday, December 16th. Barclays cut Williams Companies from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 18th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 9th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Friday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.09.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.8 %

WMB stock opened at $31.44 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $33.05 and a 200-day moving average of $32.62. The company has a market cap of $38.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.77 and a twelve month high of $37.97.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 31st. The pipeline company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 14.73% and a net margin of 17.72%. The firm’s revenue was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

About Williams Companies

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The Williams Cos., Inc operates as an energy infrastructure company, which explores, produces, transports, sells and processes natural gas and petroleum products. It operates through the following segments: Transmission and Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, and West. The Transmission and Gulf of Mexico segment consists of interstate natural gas pipelines, the Transco and Northwest Pipelines, as well as natural gas gathering and processing and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.