Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Shares Purchased by Praxis Investment Management Inc.

Praxis Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 16.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 62,940 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 8,880 shares during the quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,761,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Sandy Spring Bank bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Hoey Investments Inc. bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Citigroup raised their target price on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, CIBC raised their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $61.25.

Williams Companies Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE WMB traded up $1.32 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $60.44. 14,263,493 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,802,584. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $59.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.44. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.41 and a 12-month high of $61.67. The firm has a market cap of $73.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.32, a P/E/G ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.40.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.18% and a return on equity of 15.95%. Williams Companies's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is presently 106.95%.

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.