Congress Asset Management Co. Makes New $112.71 Million Investment in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,885,978 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $112,706,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Disciplined Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the first quarter worth about $211,000. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 5,083 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares in the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 10.3% in the 1st quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,915 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $593,000 after purchasing an additional 929 shares in the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 177,471 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $10,606,000 after purchasing an additional 7,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 21.4% in the 1st quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 34,232 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,046,000 after purchasing an additional 6,025 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $60.56 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.35. The firm has a market cap of $73.84 billion, a PE ratio of 33.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.65. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.41 and a 1 year high of $61.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

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

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WMB. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.25.

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.