4,992 Shares in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Purchased by GLOBALT Investments LLC GA

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 4,992 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 64.6% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,043 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $961,000 after acquiring an additional 8,257 shares during the last quarter. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 844,464 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $38,550,000 after acquiring an additional 77,253 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 267,416 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $12,208,000 after acquiring an additional 3,796 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Williams Companies by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $165,130,000 after buying an additional 9,800 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 2.0 %

WMB opened at $58.42 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $56.83 and a 200 day moving average of $53.66. The company has a market cap of $71.23 billion, a PE ratio of 31.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $36.84 and a 12 month high of $61.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. 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 3.42%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares of the company’s stock, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on WMB shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.07.

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.