Northstar Advisory Group LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Northstar Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 121.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,459 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 12,325 shares during the quarter. Northstar Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $7,054,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008,213 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 540,533 shares in the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 5,068,738 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,236,940 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $824,623,000 after buying an additional 1,696,618 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $575,103,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.1%

WMB stock traded up $0.67 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $60.09. The stock had a trading volume of 5,715,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,769,233. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.41 and a twelve month high of $61.67. The firm has a market cap of $73.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.84, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.35.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. The company's revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is presently 106.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $61.25.

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.