Centaurus Financial Inc. Boosts Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB – Get Rating) by 6.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,481 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,255 shares during the quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $558,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the first quarter worth $54,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 32.3% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 10,414 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 2,540 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 1,001.1% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 101,026 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,375,000 after purchasing an additional 91,851 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 42.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 98,677 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,297,000 after acquiring an additional 29,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at $319,000. 85.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Williams Companies from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Monday, February 27th. US Capital Advisors upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 31st. Citigroup assumed coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, December 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $36.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Raymond James dropped their target price on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.90.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, Director William H. Spence purchased 5,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $29.61 per share, with a total value of $148,050.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 48,521 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,436,706.81. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.43% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $28.30 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.49 billion, a PE ratio of 16.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The business has a 50-day moving average of $31.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.98. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $28.06 and a 12 month high of $37.97.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 20th. The pipeline company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.06. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.02% and a net margin of 18.69%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 13th will be paid a $0.4475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 10th. This represents a $1.79 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.33%. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 106.55%.

Williams Companies Company Profile

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The Williams Cos., Inc operates as an energy infrastructure company, which explores, produces, transports, sells and processes natural gas and petroleum products. It operates through the following segments: Transmission and Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, and West. The Transmission and Gulf of Mexico segment consists of interstate natural gas pipelines, the Transco and Northwest Pipelines, as well as natural gas gathering and processing and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region.