Burney Co. Has $2.63 Million Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Burney Co. raised its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 48,557 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,425 shares during the period. Burney Co.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,628,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,631,288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,697,605 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,398,004,000 after purchasing an additional 520,663 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,239,210 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $330,470,000 after purchasing an additional 67,016 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $165,130,000 after purchasing an additional 9,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,271,141 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $149,326,000 after buying an additional 108,675 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on WMB shares. Citigroup increased their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $57.95 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $55.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market cap of $70.64 billion, a PE ratio of 24.45, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.06. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.65 and a 1 year high of $60.36.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.