Tradewinds LLC. Buys Shares of 5,536 The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Tradewinds LLC. purchased a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,536 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $306,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WMB. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Williams Companies by 28.5% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,714,358 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $92,854,000 after acquiring an additional 380,051 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,341,474 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $126,721,000 after purchasing an additional 293,776 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 115.8% in the fourth quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 103,533 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $5,603,000 after purchasing an additional 55,558 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 49.9% during the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 81,659 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,419,000 after buying an additional 27,189 shares during the period. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $60.54 on Wednesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.18 and a 1 year high of $61.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market cap of $73.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.08, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $57.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.81.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. Analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on WMB. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. CIBC upped their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.07.

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.