Board of the Pension Protection Fund Acquires 5,800 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Board of the Pension Protection Fund increased its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 43.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,100 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,800 shares during the period. Williams Companies accounts for 1.3% of Board of the Pension Protection Fund's portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Board of the Pension Protection Fund's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,141,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 27.5% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 402,967 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $24,081,000 after purchasing an additional 87,031 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 14.0% during the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 85,839 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $5,130,000 after buying an additional 10,561 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 183,317 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $9,224,000 after buying an additional 7,618 shares during the period. Good Steward Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at approximately $977,000. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 31.4% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 72,904 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $3,946,000 after acquiring an additional 17,420 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:WMB traded down $0.18 during trading on Friday, hitting $62.69. 27,809,538 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,935,716. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $59.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.57. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.41 and a 52 week high of $63.16. The company has a market cap of $76.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.65.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is 106.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on WMB. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. CIBC increased 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. Barclays raised their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $61.25.

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.