Sunbelt Securities Inc. Has $72,000 Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 60.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,687 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 633 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $72,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 181,789 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $6,332,000 after purchasing an additional 81,971 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its position in Williams Companies by 1,086.0% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 183,516 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $6,392,000 after purchasing an additional 168,042 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Williams Companies by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 227,600 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,927,000 after buying an additional 12,800 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 133.2% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 156,589 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $5,454,000 after buying an additional 89,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 19,177 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $668,000 after buying an additional 3,465 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on WMB shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Williams Companies from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com lowered Williams Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.46.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE WMB opened at $48.21 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.58 and a 52 week high of $48.33. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $44.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.26, a PEG ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.45.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.11% and a return on equity of 16.17%. Williams Companies’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.94%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.83%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,218. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.