Compass Planning Associates Inc Purchases New Shares in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 546 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $720,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 162,799 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,811,000 after buying an additional 19,782 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 81.4% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 185,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,062,000 after buying an additional 83,429 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 319.9% in the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,038 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $651,000 after buying an additional 9,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Myriad Asset Management US LP bought a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $995,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group increased their price target on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:WMB opened at $58.46 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.13 and a 52 week high of $61.46. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $56.09 and its 200-day moving average is $52.07. The firm has a market cap of $71.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.95, a P/E/G ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS 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%. Equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 103.83%.

Williams Companies 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.