Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Has $10.12 Million Stock Position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lessened its holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 8.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 169,325 shares of the pipeline company's stock after selling 16,595 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $10,119,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 27.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 14.0% in the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 85,839 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $5,130,000 after buying an additional 10,561 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. Good Steward Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the first quarter worth $977,000. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 31.4% during the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 72,904 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $3,946,000 after buying an additional 17,420 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE WMB traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $60.77. 6,655,665 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,828,320. 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 stock has a market cap of $74.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.50, a P/E/G ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.49. Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $40.41 and a one year high of $61.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced 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 return on equity of 15.95% and a net margin of 21.18%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 106.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. CIBC upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.25.

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.