Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Has $904,000 Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co cut its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 8.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,200 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,100 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $904,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 5.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $817,736,000 after buying an additional 1,175,628 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Williams Companies by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $403,801,000 after buying an additional 2,039,703 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $306,417,000. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP raised its stake in Williams Companies by 13.4% in the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $332,828,000 after buying an additional 1,010,658 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 8,421,205 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $328,174,000 after purchasing an additional 55,248 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays increased their price target on Williams Companies from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. CIBC lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $1,513,102.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 60,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,392,840.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB stock traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $42.93. The stock had a trading volume of 8,295,452 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,592,766. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.49 and a 52-week high of $45.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $52.32 billion, a PE ratio of 18.05, a P/E/G ratio of 6.75 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.78.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.29% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.43%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.83%.

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.