Portside Wealth Group LLC Acquires 528 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Portside Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,685 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 528 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Williams Companies by 0.8% in the 4th 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 31,263,235 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,687,797,000 after purchasing an additional 540,533 shares during the period. Blackstone Inc. increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,025,795,000 after purchasing an additional 5,068,738 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,236,940 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $824,623,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,618 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $575,103,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This represents a 8.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $60.56 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market cap of $73.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.09, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.65. The business’s fifty day moving average is $58.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.32. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.41 and a 52 week high of $61.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. The business’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Barclays boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, CIBC boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven equities research 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.