Meeder Asset Management Inc. Purchases 58,303 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 248.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 81,724 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 58,303 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $4,884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 8.3% during the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 37,305 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,229,000 after purchasing an additional 2,869 shares during the period. Marco Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the first quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 32.0% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 8,173 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $488,000 after purchasing an additional 1,980 shares during the period. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 13.6% during the first quarter. Kinsale Capital Group Inc. now owns 170,719 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $10,202,000 after purchasing an additional 20,464 shares during the period. Finally, New Republic Capital LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the first quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on WMB shares. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.70, for a total transaction of $125,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 315,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,790,941.50. This trade represents a 0.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $57.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $59.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $70.11 billion, a PE ratio of 30.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.41 and a 1 year high of $63.45.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.18% and a return on equity of 15.95%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.