The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Acquired by Ausdal Financial Partners Inc.

Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 26,475 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 401 shares during the quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,433,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 33,116 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,792,000 after buying an additional 460 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 55.9% in the 4th quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 12,781 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $692,000 after purchasing an additional 4,582 shares during the period. Dudley Capital Management LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. Dudley Capital Management LLC now owns 41,775 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,261,000 after purchasing an additional 6,805 shares in the last quarter. CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $116,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 25.8% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 2,763,277 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $149,549,000 after purchasing an additional 566,447 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $59.92 on Thursday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.18 and a 12-month high of $61.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $57.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.75, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WMB. CIBC increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 714,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. The trade was a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 in the last 90 days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams Companies 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.