Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC Increases Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 7.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 66,084 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,640 shares during the quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,949,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 9.3% in the first quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 64,345 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $3,845,000 after acquiring an additional 5,475 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 27,541 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,646,000 after purchasing an additional 3,028 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,851 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $409,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,653,000. Finally, Abound Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 315,645 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,790,941.50. This represents a 0.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, 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 target for the company. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $61.69.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.8%

WMB traded up $0.47 during midday 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 52 week low of $40.41 and a 52 week high of $63.45. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $59.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.15, a P/E/G ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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