Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Purchases 83,429 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 81.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 185,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 83,429 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies makes up 0.8% of Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $10,062,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Williams Companies by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,734,666 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,631,288,000 after acquiring an additional 5,697,605 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,239,210 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $330,470,000 after purchasing an additional 67,016 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in Williams Companies by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,617,300 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $165,130,000 after purchasing an additional 9,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 3.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,271,141 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $149,326,000 after purchasing an additional 108,675 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WMB shares. Bank of America initiated 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 on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Mizuho upped their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.00.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $59.64 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $56.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.36. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.65 and a 1-year high of $61.46. The firm has a market cap of $72.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 80.17%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value 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. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.