Little House Capital LLC Grows Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Little House Capital LLC lifted its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 36.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 45,801 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 12,159 shares during the period. Little House Capital LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,091,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blackstone Inc. lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 109.1% in the 1st quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $252,006,000 after purchasing an additional 3,373,800 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 40.1% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,753,223 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $224,203,000 after buying an additional 1,647,469 shares in the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the first quarter worth about $57,220,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 5.9% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $817,736,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175,628 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,117,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $259,985,000 after buying an additional 1,024,158 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE WMB traded down $0.40 during trading on Monday, hitting $51.96. 1,684,151 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,256,888. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.45. The business has a 50 day moving average of $46.29 and a 200-day moving average of $42.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.47, a PEG ratio of 5.88 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $52.82.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $13,777,218. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their price target on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.46.

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.