StrongBox Wealth LLC Purchases New Shares in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

StrongBox Wealth LLC acquired a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 6,145 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $333,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in Williams Companies by 50.4% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the second quarter worth about $35,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the second quarter worth about $42,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WMB shares. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. CIBC boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE WMB opened at $57.95 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.45, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $55.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.65 and a 52 week high of $60.36.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

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.