Partners in Financial Planning Makes New Investment in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Partners in Financial Planning bought a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 4,045 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,650,492 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $120,995,000 after buying an additional 243,302 shares in the last quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company increased its position in shares of Williams Companies by 6.1% during the third quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 6,173 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 41.5% during the third quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 89,757 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,097,000 after acquiring an additional 26,337 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the third quarter worth $6,554,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 714,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. The trade was a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.3 %

WMB stock opened at $59.24 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.60. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.18 and a twelve month high of $61.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.24 billion, a PE ratio of 32.37, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. On average, equities analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.38%. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. CIBC upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.07.

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.