Consolidated Planning Corp Has $6.73 Million Stock Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Consolidated Planning Corp boosted its stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) by 6.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 112,571 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,236 shares during the quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $6,727,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WMB. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $575,103,000. Blackstone Inc. grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 36.5% in the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,025,795,000 after purchasing an additional 5,068,738 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 2,303.2% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,517,336 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $190,358,000 after purchasing an additional 3,370,974 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 6,407.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,238,490 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $133,772,000 after purchasing an additional 2,204,090 shares during the period. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 69.1% in the fourth quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 5,055,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $273,587,000 after purchasing an additional 2,065,906 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.25.

Williams Companies Stock Up 2.2%

WMB opened at $60.44 on Monday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $59.06 and its 200 day moving average is $57.44. Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.41 and a fifty-two week high of $61.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.32, a PEG ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.65.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.18% and a return on equity of 15.95%. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

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

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.