Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Grows Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 52.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,009 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 11,745 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,553,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WMB. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Williams Companies by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,117,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $259,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,158 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 7,664,152 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $325,726,000 after acquiring an additional 618,056 shares in the last quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 26.8% during the third quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 2,097,941 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $95,771,000 after purchasing an additional 443,423 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Williams Companies by 102.2% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 865,538 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $39,512,000 after purchasing an additional 437,486 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 180.6% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 638,120 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $24,868,000 after purchasing an additional 410,705 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $58.18 on Tuesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.65 and a twelve month high of $60.36. The stock has a market cap of $70.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.55, a P/E/G ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.60 and a 200 day moving average of $45.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WMB. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho upped their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.54.

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.