Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Invests $3.20 Million in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 75,373 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $3,203,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $306,417,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 15.7% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 108,302 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $4,221,000 after acquiring an additional 14,672 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 145.5% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 95,359 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $3,716,000 after acquiring an additional 56,509 shares in the last quarter. ETF Store Inc. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. ETF Store Inc. now owns 28,444 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $991,000 after purchasing an additional 899 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,636,222 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $91,820,000 after purchasing an additional 518,009 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB traded up $0.62 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $45.29. 3,350,261 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,499,317. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $42.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.49 and a twelve month high of $45.35.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.20%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WMB shares. CIBC increased their target price on Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $41.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Williams Companies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Argus raised Williams Companies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average 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.