West Michigan Advisors LLC Has $471,000 Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

West Michigan Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 21.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,705 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,375 shares during the quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $720,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 162,799 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,811,000 after purchasing an additional 19,782 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 319.9% during the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,038 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $651,000 after purchasing an additional 9,171 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in Williams Companies by 81.4% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 185,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,062,000 after purchasing an additional 83,429 shares during the period. Finally, Myriad Asset Management US LP bought a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $995,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Williams Companies stock opened at $58.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $71.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.83, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.66. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.38 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Sell-side analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were 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 approximately $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on WMB shares. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.21.

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.