Meridian Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 4,532 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WMB. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 0.8% in the third quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 51,927 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,370,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 1,855.7% during the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 42,029 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,918,000 after buying an additional 39,880 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in Williams Companies by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $165,130,000 after buying an additional 9,800 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 402.9% in the 3rd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 91,983 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,199,000 after acquiring an additional 73,693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 6.9% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 248,309 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $11,335,000 after acquiring an additional 16,064 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 2.5 %

Williams Companies stock opened at $58.18 on Tuesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.65 and a 12 month high of $60.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.86. The company has a market capitalization of $70.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. Williams Companies’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total transaction of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This represents a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. CIBC raised their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.54.

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.