Wedmont Private Capital Buys 2,439 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 12.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,729 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,439 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,282,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $575,103,000. Blackstone Inc. raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 36.5% during the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,025,795,000 after buying an additional 5,068,738 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 2,303.2% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,517,336 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $190,358,000 after buying an additional 3,370,974 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 6,407.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,238,490 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $133,772,000 after buying an additional 2,204,090 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 69.1% during the 4th quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 5,055,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $273,587,000 after buying an additional 2,065,906 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $60.56 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $73.84 billion, a PE ratio of 33.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.32. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $40.41 and a one 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.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 106.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.25.

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.