Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Buys 5,475 Shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 9.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 64,345 shares of the pipeline company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,475 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,845,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in Williams Companies during the first quarter worth $26,000. Sandy Spring Bank bought a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Hoey Investments Inc. bought a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the first quarter worth $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business'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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 315,645 shares in the company, valued at $19,790,941.50. The trade was a 0.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $61.69.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $57.70. 7,267,274 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,061,722. 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 firm's fifty day moving average price is $59.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.91. Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.41 and a twelve month high of $63.45. The company has a market cap of $70.36 billion, a PE ratio of 30.86, a PEG ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.47%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.