Allworth Financial LP Purchases 24,997 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 63.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 64,590 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 24,997 shares during the quarter. Allworth Financial LP's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,850,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $575,103,000. Blackstone Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,025,795,000 after purchasing an additional 5,068,738 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 2,303.2% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,517,336 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $190,358,000 after acquiring an additional 3,370,974 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 6,407.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,238,490 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $133,772,000 after acquiring an additional 2,204,090 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 69.1% in the 4th quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 5,055,184 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $273,587,000 after acquiring an additional 2,065,906 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.69.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $58.25. 7,545,940 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,105,000. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.41 and a 12 month high of $63.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $59.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.03 billion, a PE ratio of 31.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is 106.95%.

Insider Activity

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

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.