Chickasaw Capital Management LLC Raises Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Chickasaw Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 63.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,338,387 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,301,961 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies makes up approximately 7.7% of Chickasaw Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC owned 0.27% of Williams Companies worth $199,502,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 40.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,969 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $291,000. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 39,532 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,139,000 after buying an additional 4,038 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners grew its position in Williams Companies by 319.9% during the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,038 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $651,000 after buying an additional 9,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust increased its stake in Williams Companies by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 24,513 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,327,000 after acquiring an additional 3,088 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WMB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. CIBC boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays increased their price target 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 reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. 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.com, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.25.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This represents a 8.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE WMB traded up $0.35 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $60.47. The stock had a trading volume of 4,841,481 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,751,090. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $58.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.32. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.41 and a 1 year high of $61.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market cap of $73.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.65.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is currently 106.95%.

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.