Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC Buys Shares of 47,235 The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 47,235 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,823,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 1,008,213 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,687,797,000 after buying an additional 540,533 shares during the period. Blackstone Inc. boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 5,068,738 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,236,940 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $824,623,000 after acquiring an additional 1,696,618 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $575,103,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. 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. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.25.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB opened at $59.74 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $58.70 and its 200-day moving average is $57.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $72.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.65, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.65. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.41 and a fifty-two week high of $61.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 3.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 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.