Apollon Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 6.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,120 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,917 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,466,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 9.2% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 31,557 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after buying an additional 2,666 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 116,052 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $4,523,000 after acquiring an additional 13,709 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 13,690 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $534,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 1st quarter valued at $1,036,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 97.7% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 24,333 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 12,022 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $55.58 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $32.65 and a one year high of $57.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The company’s fifty day moving average is $49.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.45, a PEG ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. Analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WMB shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.38.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This represents a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Company 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.