HB Wealth Management LLC Acquires 22,356 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Key Points

• HB Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. by 50.8% during the first quarter, acquiring an additional 22,356 shares, bringing its total holdings to 66,401 shares valued at $3,968,000.
• Insider trading activity included SVP Terrance Lane Wilson selling 2,000 shares for $125,400, which reduced his ownership of the stock by 0.63%.
• Williams Companies recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 3.46%, with an overall payout ratio of 106.95%.

HB Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 50.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 66,401 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 22,356 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 4,490.9% during the 1st quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 505 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 494 shares in the last quarter. Hoey Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.77.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of WMB stock traded up $0.73 during trading on Thursday, hitting $59.97. 2,609,838 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,741,551. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.65. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $59.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.24. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.41 and a twelve month high of $63.45.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.18% and a return on equity of 15.95%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors 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 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is currently 106.95%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.70, for a total transaction of $125,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 315,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,790,941.50. This trade represents a 0.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies 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.