Capital Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 8.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 224,970 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,282 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $13,444,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 3,969 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Williams Companies by 30.4% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 116,110 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $6,267,000 after acquiring an additional 27,089 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in Williams Companies by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 995 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $230,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,085,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WMB. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.25.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $60.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $73.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $58.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.34. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.41 and a 1 year high of $61.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The company’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at $4,627,229.10. This represents a 8.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.