Foundations Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Key Points

• Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 22.2% during the 1st quarter, holding nearly 199,000 shares valued at approximately $11.9 million.
• The stock has received several positive ratings from analysts, with a consensus price target of $61.77 and eight analysts rating it as a "buy."
• Williams Companies recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, yielding 3.46% based on an annual payout of $2.00.

Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 22.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 198,907 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 36,108 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $11,887,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $740,000 after buying an additional 3,969 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 24.8% in the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 59,121 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $3,200,000 after buying an additional 11,750 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 675.4% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 3,032 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 2,641 shares during the last quarter. DnB Asset Management AS grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 234,445 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $12,688,000 after buying an additional 5,112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 35,307 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $1,911,000 after buying an additional 1,298 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $59.84. The stock had a trading volume of 3,280,052 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,746,490. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.41 and a fifty-two week high of $63.45. The firm has a market cap of $72.97 billion, a PE ratio of 32.01, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.65. 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 company's 50-day simple moving average is $59.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.24.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.18% and a return on equity of 15.95%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. The business's revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 106.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 315,645 shares in the company, valued at $19,790,941.50. This trade represents a 0.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company 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.