Occidental Asset Management LLC Buys 3,635 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Occidental Asset Management LLC increased its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 92,229 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,635 shares during the quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $4,991,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empirical Asset Management LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 612.2% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC now owns 80,193 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,340,000 after purchasing an additional 68,933 shares in the last quarter. Retireful LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth about $727,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 24.9% in the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 11,495 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $622,000 after acquiring an additional 2,292 shares in the last quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 16,516 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $894,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 75,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,074,000 after acquiring an additional 10,950 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on WMB. UBS Group raised their price target on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. CIBC boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB stock opened at $59.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $60.36. The company has a market capitalization of $72.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.95, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $56.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.52.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

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.