Jones Financial Companies Lllp Has $2.29 Million Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 22.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 42,370 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,767 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. CIBC upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.93.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $56.31 on Thursday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.74 and a 12 month high of $61.46. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $56.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market cap of $68.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.77, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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, research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.29%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $511,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares in the company, valued at $1,284,492.50. This trade represents a 28.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.