AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 3,852 Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB)

AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (NYSE:WMB) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,852 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $740,000 after acquiring an additional 3,969 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 35.6% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 7,181 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $389,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885 shares in the last quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC now owns 105,677 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,719,000 after acquiring an additional 971 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 198.8% during the 4th quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 105,083 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,687,000 after acquiring an additional 69,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisor OS LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 24,328 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,317,000 after buying an additional 2,404 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $60.77 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.51. The company has a market capitalization of $74.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.50, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 0.40 and a quick ratio of 0.36. Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.41 and a 1 year high of $61.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.18% and a return on equity of 15.95%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 106.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Scotiabank increased 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. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.25.

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.