Advisor Resource Council Makes New $874,000 Investment in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Advisor Resource Council purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 14,624 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $874,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Segment Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,536 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,885,000 after purchasing an additional 3,404 shares during the last quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 134.8% during the first quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC now owns 25,929 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,520,000 after acquiring an additional 14,887 shares in the last quarter. Good Steward Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the first quarter worth approximately $977,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 23.0% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 9,983 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $597,000 after buying an additional 1,870 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at $131,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, May 16th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. CIBC boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $61.25.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB traded up $1.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $60.44. 14,263,493 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,802,584. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.41 and a twelve month high of $61.67. The company has a market cap of $73.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.32, a PEG ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.65. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.44.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.95%.

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.