Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Acquires 20,283 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Key Points

• Empirical Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 290.3% during the first quarter, acquiring an additional 20,283 shares for a total of 27,271 shares worth $1,630,000.
• Williams Companies reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.60 for the latest quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.55, with a revenue of $3.05 billion.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, representing a 3.3% yield, with a payout ratio currently at 106.95%.

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 290.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 27,271 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 20,283 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,630,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Blackstone Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 5,068,738 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,696,618 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.5% during the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 7,916,565 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $473,094,000 after purchasing an additional 113,759 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 7,339,794 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $397,230,000 after purchasing an additional 263,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 42.3% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,458,270 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $349,522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920,189 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB stock opened at $60.27 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.49 billion, a PE ratio of 32.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.66. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.41 and a 12-month high of $63.45. 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 stock's 50 day simple moving average is $59.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.29.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.95% and a net margin of 21.18%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is presently 106.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WMB. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. TD Cowen began coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $67.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.70, for a total transaction of $125,400.00. Following 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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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