Mariner Investment Group LLC Purchases New Holdings in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

Mariner Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 30,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,793,000. Williams Companies comprises 0.7% of Mariner Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Williams Companies by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,356,165 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,054,876,000 after buying an additional 1,008,213 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 1.8% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. increased its position 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 buying an additional 5,068,738 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Williams Companies by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,236,940 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $824,623,000 after buying an additional 1,696,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $575,103,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.70, for a total value of $125,400.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 315,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Williams Companies in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wolfe Research raised Williams Companies from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Williams Companies from $59.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.77.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $59.38 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.65. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.41 and a 52-week high of $63.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $59.39 and a 200 day moving average of $58.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.40.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 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.