Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 15.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,480 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,031 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at $306,417,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 35.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,553,779 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $321,867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,482,331 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 69.2% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,105,754 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $143,003,000 after purchasing an additional 1,679,452 shares during the period. First Financial Bankshares Inc bought a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at $56,223,000. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 3,821.2% during the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 1,579,718 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $55,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,431 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on WMB. Wells Fargo & Company raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. StockNews.com lowered Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. UBS Group raised their price target on Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.42.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE:WMB traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $42.50. 8,506,931 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,084,668. The firm has a market cap of $51.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.86, a P/E/G ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.98 and a 52 week high of $43.22. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.47%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total transaction of $1,513,102.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 60,410 shares in the company, valued at $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.