Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Acquires New Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 5,160 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. SouthState Corp purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 50.4% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in Williams Companies during the second quarter worth $42,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

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

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE WMB opened at $58.14 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $70.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.53, a PEG ratio of 5.99 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.08. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a one year low of $32.65 and a one year high of $60.36.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on WMB. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.79.

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.