Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC Sells 5,066 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC decreased its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 7.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 65,540 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 5,066 shares during the quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,547,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,568 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $300,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT lifted its position in Williams Companies by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC lifted its position in Williams Companies by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank lifted its position in Williams Companies by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 30,813 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,669,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Williams Companies by 24.4% in the fourth quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 995 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

WMB opened at $54.37 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The company has a market cap of $66.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, 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 $35.78 and a 12-month high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. Research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $511,520.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 22,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,284,492.50. This trade represents a 28.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. One equities 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 MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.