May Barnhard Investments LLC Purchases New Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

May Barnhard Investments LLC purchased a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,647 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $251,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WMB. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. CIBC upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.07.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $56.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $68.38 billion, a PE ratio of 30.64, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.56 and a 1-year high of $61.46. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $56.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.37.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

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.