Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Increases Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 16.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 58,870 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,246 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 104.5% during the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 676,385 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $26,822,000 after purchasing an additional 345,684 shares in the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,529,000. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 13.5% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 181,063 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $7,695,000 after acquiring an additional 21,504 shares during the period. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $242,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 20.2% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 207,629 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,824,000 after acquiring an additional 34,870 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Williams Companies Trading Up 0.3 %

WMB stock opened at $59.64 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $56.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.30. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46. The firm has a market cap of $72.70 billion, a PE ratio of 25.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.19%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. CIBC raised their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

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.