Golden State Equity Partners Has $761,000 Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Golden State Equity Partners boosted its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 5.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,735 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 697 shares during the quarter. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in Williams Companies were worth $761,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vectors Research Management LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 2.0% in the first quarter. Vectors Research Management LLC now owns 67,191 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,015,000 after purchasing an additional 1,292 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 2.1% in the first quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 42,011 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,511,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares in the last quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at about $230,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 4.1% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 547,195 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $32,700,000 after purchasing an additional 21,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 40.0% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 345,967 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $20,675,000 after purchasing an additional 98,763 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Wolfe Research upgraded Williams Companies from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. CIBC lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.25.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $60.77 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $59.22 and its 200-day moving average is $57.51. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.41 and a 1-year high of $61.67. The stock has a market cap of $74.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 106.95%.

Williams Companies 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.