The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Purchased by Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC

Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC grew its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,073 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $275,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 34.0% in the third quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,301 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $562,000 after purchasing an additional 3,121 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in Williams Companies by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 12,082 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $552,000 after buying an additional 3,327 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 19,192 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $953,000 after acquiring an additional 717 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 14,255 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 25,045 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,143,000 after acquiring an additional 4,248 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on WMB shares. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. CIBC increased their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.00.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.1 %

WMB opened at $55.93 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $55.96 and its 200-day moving average is $51.11. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $61.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.60, a P/E/G ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.04.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. Analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

About Williams Companies

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.