Annex Advisory Services LLC Buys 7,938 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Annex Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 4.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 177,471 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 7,938 shares during the quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $10,606,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WMB. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $575,103,000. Blackstone Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 36.5% in the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 18,954,088 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,025,795,000 after purchasing an additional 5,068,738 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2,303.2% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 3,517,336 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $190,358,000 after purchasing an additional 3,370,974 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 6,407.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,238,490 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $133,772,000 after purchasing an additional 2,204,090 shares during the period. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 69.1% in the 4th quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP now owns 5,055,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $273,587,000 after purchasing an additional 2,065,906 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $60.16 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.32. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.41 and a 52 week high of $61.67. The company has a market capitalization of $73.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.87, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 106.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. The trade was a 8.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value of $5,128,278.48. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at $37,907,316.72. The trade was a 11.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.75.

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.