Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Acquires 8,031 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 15.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor 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 reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Occidental Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 23.1% in the first quarter. Occidental Asset Management LLC now owns 81,461 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,175,000 after acquiring an additional 15,302 shares in the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 50.6% during the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 17,452 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $680,000 after buying an additional 5,860 shares in the last quarter. Transform Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 0.7% during the first quarter. Transform Wealth LLC now owns 58,346 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,274,000 after buying an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,270 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 703 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stokes Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC now owns 188,516 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,346,000 after buying an additional 2,562 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB traded up $0.26 during trading on Friday, hitting $42.50. The stock had a trading volume of 8,506,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,084,668. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $40.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.55. The firm has a market cap of $51.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.86, a P/E/G ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 1.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $31.98 and a one year high of $43.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.77 billion during 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.47%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.83%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was 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 directly owns 60,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,392,840.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. CIBC lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Argus raised Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.