D.A. Davidson & CO. Purchases 23,268 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 31.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 96,138 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 23,268 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.'s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $5,745,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $7,054,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008,213 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,263,235 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,687,797,000 after acquiring an additional 540,533 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,025,795,000 after acquiring an additional 5,068,738 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,236,940 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $824,623,000 after buying an additional 1,696,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $575,103,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE:WMB opened at $58.47 on Friday. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.41 and a 12 month high of $63.45. The stock has a market cap of $71.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.26, a P/E/G ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $59.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.18% and a return on equity of 15.95%. Williams Companies's revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is presently 106.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on WMB shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Barclays raised 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. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $61.25.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 315,645 shares in the company, valued at $19,790,941.50. The trade was a 0.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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