Capital Investment Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 8.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 224,970 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 18,282 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $13,444,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Sandy Spring Bank purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, CIBC boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $61.25.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $60.56 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.41 and a fifty-two week high of $61.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The company has a market capitalization of $73.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.09, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a fifty day moving average of $58.43 and a 200 day moving average of $57.34.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 106.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This represents a 8.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

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.

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