Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Has $32.70 Million Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 4.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 547,195 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 21,650 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $32,700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WMB. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $575,103,000. Blackstone Inc. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 36.5% during the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,025,795,000 after buying an additional 5,068,738 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 2,303.2% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,517,336 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $190,358,000 after buying an additional 3,370,974 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 6,407.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,238,490 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $133,772,000 after buying an additional 2,204,090 shares during the period. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 69.1% during the 4th quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 5,055,184 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $273,587,000 after buying an additional 2,065,906 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.25.

Williams Companies Stock Up 3.6%

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded up $2.16 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $62.85. The stock had a trading volume of 9,378,424 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,844,552. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.41 and a 12 month high of $62.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $59.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.51. The company has a market cap of $76.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.61, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.65.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.18% and a return on equity of 15.95%. 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 business earned $0.59 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is 106.95%.

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.