Park Avenue Securities LLC Purchases 3,227 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 4.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,974 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,227 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $4,122,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Sandy Spring Bank purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,627,229.10. This represents a 8.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WMB. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup upped 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Williams Companies from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. CIBC upped their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, May 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.25.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB opened at $60.56 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $73.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.09, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.41 and a 12 month high of $61.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $58.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.32.

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

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 106.95%.

Williams Companies Company 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.