Little House Capital LLC Acquires New Shares in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Little House Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 26,591 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,036,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 33.5% in the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 77,691 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,617,000 after purchasing an additional 19,502 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in Williams Companies by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 13,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $460,000 after buying an additional 2,964 shares in the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,094,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,429,000. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,068,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.42.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB stock traded down $0.16 during trading on Monday, reaching $42.34. 1,713,363 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,684,984. The company has a market capitalization of $51.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.86, a P/E/G ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.59. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.20 and a twelve month high of $43.22.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 79.83%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 60,410 shares in the company, valued at $2,392,840.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Williams Companies

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.