Empirical Asset Management LLC Has $4.34 Million Stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Empirical Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 612.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 80,193 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 68,933 shares during the quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $4,340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 7,817 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $357,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,178 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 1.1% in the third quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 18,111 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $827,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 41,514 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,895,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Family Advisors LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Family Advisors LLC now owns 6,510 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This represents a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $59.13 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.65 and a 12-month high of $60.36. The business has a 50 day moving average of $56.00 and a 200-day moving average of $49.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market cap of $72.08 billion, a PE ratio of 24.95, a P/E/G ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.06.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released 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 business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.17%.

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.