Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) Shares Purchased by Stableford Capital II LLC

Stableford Capital II LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 134.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 25,929 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 14,887 shares during the quarter. Stableford Capital II LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,520,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ING Groep NV grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 266.6% during the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 155,694 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $8,426,000 after buying an additional 113,227 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 85,839 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $5,130,000 after buying an additional 10,561 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 183,317 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $9,224,000 after buying an additional 7,618 shares during the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 72,904 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $3,946,000 after buying an additional 17,420 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 800.6% during the 4th quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 63,509 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $3,437,000 after buying an additional 56,457 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WMB. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from an "underperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.25.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB stock opened at $59.10 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $58.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.40. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.41 and a 12-month high of $61.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63. The company has a market cap of $72.06 billion, a PE ratio of 31.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.95%.

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.

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