GoalVest Advisory LLC Raises Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

GoalVest Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 3.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,741 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after acquiring an additional 974 shares during the quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WMB. Blackstone Inc. increased its position in Williams Companies by 109.1% in the first quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 6,466,660 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $252,006,000 after buying an additional 3,373,800 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the first quarter worth $57,220,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 5.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,983,727 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $817,736,000 after buying an additional 1,175,628 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Williams Companies by 20.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,117,298 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $259,985,000 after buying an additional 1,024,158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON increased its position in Williams Companies by 11.8% in the first quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON now owns 5,896,375 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $229,782,000 after buying an additional 623,820 shares during the last quarter. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the business’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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Terrance Lane Wilson sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.29, for a total value of $90,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 304,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,777,218. This trade represents a 0.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on WMB. Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $42.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut Williams Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.54.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $56.55 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.86, a P/E/G ratio of 5.83 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $57.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $49.94 and a 200 day moving average of $44.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 80.17%.

Williams Companies 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.