Freestone Grove Partners LP Takes Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 486,868 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,349,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Sandy Spring Bank acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. CIBC lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.77.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at $4,627,229.10. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.5 %

WMB stock opened at $58.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The company has a market capitalization of $71.78 billion, a PE ratio of 32.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.01 and a 52 week high of $61.67. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.38.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 109.29%.

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.