4,158 Shares in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Acquired by Allen Capital Group LLC

Allen Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,158 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Creative Planning raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 13.5% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 181,063 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $7,695,000 after buying an additional 21,504 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 36,554 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,554,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in Williams Companies by 60.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,687 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 633 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 12.3% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,607 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $493,000 after buying an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays upped their target price on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group boosted 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. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock 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 issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was 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 directly owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $55.37 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $67.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.36, a P/E/G ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.65 and a 12 month high of $61.46. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $56.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.58.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

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.