Obermeyer Wealth Partners Boosts Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Obermeyer Wealth Partners grew its position in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 117.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,386 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 4,534 shares during the quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners' holdings in Williams Companies were worth $501,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $7,054,876,000 after buying an additional 1,008,213 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,263,235 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,687,797,000 after purchasing an additional 540,533 shares during the period. Blackstone Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 36.5% in the 4th 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 period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 12.5% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $575,103,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock traded down $0.75 during trading on Friday, hitting $58.00. The stock had a trading volume of 1,554,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,808,540. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.41 and a 12 month high of $63.45. The business's 50-day moving average is $59.38 and its 200 day moving average is $58.18. The firm has a market cap of $70.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.65. 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 earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is presently 106.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 value of $125,400.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 315,645 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,790,941.50. This represents a 0.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.