6,988 Shares in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Bought by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,988 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $378,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WMB. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Williams Companies by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,631,288,000 after purchasing an additional 5,697,605 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,398,004,000 after purchasing an additional 520,663 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,239,210 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $330,470,000 after purchasing an additional 67,016 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $165,130,000 after purchasing an additional 9,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 3.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,271,141 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $149,326,000 after buying an additional 108,675 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho increased their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded up $0.73 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $56.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,557,872 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,540,865. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $56.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.61. The company has a market capitalization of $68.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.65, a P/E/G ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.65 and a 52 week high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. Williams Companies's revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies's payout ratio is 84.39%.

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.