BWM Planning LLC Takes $210,000 Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

BWM Planning LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 3,871 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Williams Companies by 19.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,631,288,000 after buying an additional 5,697,605 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,722,702 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,398,004,000 after purchasing an additional 520,663 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,239,210 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $330,470,000 after acquiring an additional 67,016 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in Williams Companies by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $165,130,000 after buying an additional 9,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its position in Williams Companies by 3.4% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,271,141 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $149,326,000 after purchasing an additional 108,675 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB stock opened at $55.19 on Wednesday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.65 and a 1-year high of $61.46. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $56.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.58. The firm has a market cap of $67.28 billion, a PE ratio of 23.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.06.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued 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 return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 80.17%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America started coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial raised their target price on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

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.