Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Raises Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 388,123 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 9,471 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $17,718,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 21.7% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 203,206 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $9,276,000 after purchasing an additional 36,213 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Zacks Investment Management increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 129,056 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $5,891,000 after buying an additional 951 shares during the last quarter. Zega Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $694,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 224.1% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,334,307 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $60,909,000 after acquiring an additional 922,550 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams Companies from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $52.07.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE WMB traded up $0.84 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $55.39. 7,781,411 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,343,081. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $60.36. 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 firm has a market cap of $67.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.05. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $54.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.13.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at $13,777,218. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.