The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Bought by Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 25.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 177,734 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 36,226 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $9,619,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Kovack Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $365,000. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 53.9% in the 4th quarter. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co now owns 9,420 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares in the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 180,825 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $9,786,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth $170,000. Finally, NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 97,818 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,294,000 after buying an additional 4,274 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WMB. UBS Group lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.21.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $56.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $34.90 and a one year high of $61.46. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.72, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.05.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. On average, analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.56%. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.29%.

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.