The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Purchased by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 5.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,620 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 1,468 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,076,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $306,417,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,553,779 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $321,867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,482,331 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 69.2% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,105,754 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $143,003,000 after purchasing an additional 1,679,452 shares during the period. First Financial Bankshares Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,223,000. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3,821.2% during the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 1,579,718 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $55,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,431 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays increased their price target on Williams Companies from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. US Capital Advisors lowered Williams Companies from an “overweight” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.67.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE WMB traded up $0.31 during trading on Friday, hitting $42.98. 4,292,767 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,521,002. The company has a market capitalization of $52.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.08, a PEG ratio of 6.67 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.04. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.49 and a 12 month high of $43.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 period last year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 79.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 60,410 shares in the company, valued at $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.