The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Bought by Avestar Capital LLC

Avestar Capital LLC raised its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 6.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,210 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 306 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 51,927 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,370,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1,855.7% during the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 42,029 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,918,000 after acquiring an additional 39,880 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised 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 valued at $165,130,000 after acquiring an additional 9,800 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 402.9% during the 3rd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 91,983 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,199,000 after acquiring an additional 73,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 248,309 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $11,335,000 after acquiring an additional 16,064 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of WMB stock opened at $58.14 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.08. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $60.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.53, a P/E/G ratio of 6.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup upped their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. CIBC upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, 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 value of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. This represents a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.