LCM Capital Management Inc Makes New $235,000 Investment in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

LCM Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,342 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $56.86 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.99, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The company had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. Williams Companies’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 80.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on WMB. Bank of America initiated coverage on Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.