The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Sold by State of Alaska Department of Revenue

State of Alaska Department of Revenue cut its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 1.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 142,133 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,605 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $5,538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 888.9% in the 1st quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC now owns 2,225 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 60.5% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,414 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $406,000 after purchasing an additional 3,924 shares during the last quarter. Little House Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the first quarter valued at $1,036,000. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 1.1% in the first quarter. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 166,534 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $6,490,000 after buying an additional 1,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Founders Financial Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 54,072 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,107,000 after buying an additional 2,769 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on WMB. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Argus upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Truist Financial upped their target price 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, Wolfe Research reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Williams Companies stock opened at $42.80 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.70. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.20 and a 52 week high of $43.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.98, a PEG ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 1.05. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.69 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 27.29%. The firm’s revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

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.