The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Acquired by Sanctuary Advisors LLC

Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 464,801 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,062 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $26,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Truist Financial increased their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. CIBC increased their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays increased their target price on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $57.00 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $33.03 and a 12 month high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.51%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

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.