The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Holdings Lifted by Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC

Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 33.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,000 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 500 shares during the quarter. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $78,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 145.5% during the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 95,359 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $3,716,000 after buying an additional 56,509 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the first quarter valued at $474,000. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 141.9% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 7,786 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $303,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567 shares during the last quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the first quarter valued at $93,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 40.1% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,753,223 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $224,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,647,469 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB traded up $0.01 on Wednesday, hitting $42.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,609,411 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,544,553. The company has a market capitalization of $51.68 billion, a PE ratio of 17.82, a PEG ratio of 6.64 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.49 and a fifty-two week high of $43.22. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.97.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 27.29%. Williams Companies’s revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $1,513,102.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 60,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.42.

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.