Beam Wealth Advisors Inc. Buys New Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Beam Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 18,860 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $817,736,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175,628 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.2% during the second quarter. Tortoise Capital Advisors L.L.C. now owns 12,670,175 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $538,482,000 after purchasing an additional 144,713 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,593,482 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $403,801,000 after buying an additional 2,039,703 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $306,417,000. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 13.4% in the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 8,540,611 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $332,828,000 after buying an additional 1,010,658 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.6 %

WMB stock opened at $44.54 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $43.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.79. The company has a market cap of $54.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.71, a PEG ratio of 6.08 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.49 and a 12-month high of $45.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.27%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $42.83.

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.