29,353 Shares in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Purchased by Bridges Investment Management Inc.

Bridges Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 29,353 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,248,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 108,302 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,221,000 after acquiring an additional 14,672 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 145.5% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 95,359 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,716,000 after buying an additional 56,509 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,636,222 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $91,820,000 after buying an additional 518,009 shares during the last quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 1,644,620 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $64,091,000 after buying an additional 56,013 shares during the period. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,364,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WMB shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Truist Financial upped 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. StockNews.com downgraded Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.50.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $45.38 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $44.06 and a 200-day moving average of $41.31. The company has a market cap of $55.31 billion, a PE ratio of 19.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.24 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.49 and a 1-year high of $45.82.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 16.17% and a net margin of 27.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.83%.

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.