MJP Associates Inc. ADV Invests $300,000 in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

MJP Associates Inc. ADV bought a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 7,690 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $300,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Fairman Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, CGC Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $42.06 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $51.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.67, a PEG ratio of 6.65 and a beta of 1.05. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.31. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.26 and a 52 week high of $43.20.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.10. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 27.29%. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.52%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial increased their target price on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Williams Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Debbie L. Pickle sold 38,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 60,410 shares in the company, valued at $2,392,840.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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.