GoalVest Advisory LLC Grows Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 3.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,480 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 1,327 shares during the quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,461,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the first quarter worth about $62,000. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 52.5% during the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 9,698 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $378,000 after buying an additional 3,337 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 9.1% during the first quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 31,541 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,229,000 after buying an additional 2,639 shares during the last quarter. Davis Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Finally, West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 17,557 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $684,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock traded down $0.23 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $42.88. 5,303,846 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,743,263. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.59 and a fifty-two week high of $43.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.02, a P/E/G ratio of 6.60 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $40.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.43.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.10. The firm 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend yield of 4.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. CIBC lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 60,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,392,840.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.