Owen LaRue LLC Acquires New Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Owen LaRue LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,772 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 294.4% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 339,399 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $18,368,000 after buying an additional 253,336 shares during the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 39,518 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $2,139,000 after buying an additional 2,126 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Williams Companies by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 15,236,940 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $824,623,000 after buying an additional 1,696,618 shares during the last quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $115,000. Finally, Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC raised its position in Williams Companies by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 164,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,891,000 after buying an additional 2,443 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,627,229.10. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of WMB opened at $59.70 on Tuesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.69 and a 52-week high of $61.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $57.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.29. The stock has a market cap of $72.80 billion, a PE ratio of 32.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on WMB shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Truist Financial raised their price objective 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 raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.77.

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.