Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Shares Bought by Sit Investment Associates Inc.

Key Points

• Sit Investment Associates Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 9.2%, holding 301,396 shares valued at approximately $18 million after purchasing an additional 25,286 shares.
• Analysts have varied opinions on Williams Companies, with one downgrade to "sell" and several upgrades including a price target increase from $67.00 to $70.00 by Wells Fargo, establishing a consensus rating of "Hold".
• The company reported a missed earnings estimate for the last quarter with EPS of $0.46, falling short of the $0.49 consensus, while also declaring a $0.50 quarterly dividend scheduled for September 29th.

Sit Investment Associates Inc. raised its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 9.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 301,396 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 25,286 shares during the quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $18,011,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 131,163,184 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $7,838,312,000 after acquiring an additional 807,019 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 36.5% in the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,025,795,000 after acquiring an additional 5,068,738 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 5.6% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,520,491 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,047,025,000 after acquiring an additional 932,998 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,236,940 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $824,623,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 45.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,339,078 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $677,623,000 after acquiring an additional 3,519,370 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Monday, July 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $67.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $62.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.68, for a total value of $119,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 313,645 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,718,333.60. The trade was a 0.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Larry C. Larsen sold 4,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.47, for a total transaction of $263,115.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 77,612 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,537,973.64. This represents a 5.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,500 shares of company stock valued at $507,875. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $57.84 on Thursday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $42.82 and a 12-month high of $63.45. The company has a market capitalization of $70.53 billion, a PE ratio of 29.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The firm's 50-day moving average is $59.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.24.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The pipeline company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.03). Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 16.23%. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.43 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is currently 100.50%.

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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