Heritage Wealth Advisors Sells 73,521 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Heritage Wealth Advisors reduced its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 15.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 408,431 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 73,521 shares during the period. Williams Companies comprises about 1.1% of Heritage Wealth Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Heritage Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Williams Companies were worth $22,104,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $116,000. Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at $207,000. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at $235,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 24.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 175,699 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,021,000 after buying an additional 34,383 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 153,081 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $6,988,000 after buying an additional 6,199 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Truist Financial increased their price target 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. Citigroup boosted 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. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.07.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE WMB opened at $60.78 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $74.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.21, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average of $57.25 and a 200-day moving average of $54.29. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.18 and a 1-year high of $61.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.29%. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value of $5,128,278.48. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $511,520.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 22,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. This represents a 28.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 in the last ninety days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.