Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 129.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,171 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 11,927 shares during the quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Sandy Spring Bank purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Trading Down 7.5 %

Shares of WMB opened at $54.61 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $37.18 and a twelve month high of $61.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.95.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released 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 return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value of $5,128,278.48. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. The trade was a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. 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.com, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.07.

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.