Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC Acquires Shares of 5,102 The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,102 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $13,015,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,144,000. Resolution Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,858,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,809,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 38.8% in the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 145,843 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $7,893,000 after purchasing an additional 40,766 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $60.50.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of WMB opened at $58.50 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.98. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.88 and a 1-year high of $61.67. The stock has a market cap of $71.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. The company's revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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 of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 106.95%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $511,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. The trade was a 28.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

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.

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