Strategic Financial Concepts LLC Buys New Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 57,003 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,085,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at about $720,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 162,799 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $8,811,000 after buying an additional 19,782 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 319.9% in the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,038 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 9,171 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in Williams Companies by 81.4% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 185,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $10,062,000 after purchasing an additional 83,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Williams Companies by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 75,278 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $4,074,000 after purchasing an additional 10,950 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group increased their target price on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, CIBC boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

Williams Companies Price Performance

NYSE:WMB opened at $57.00 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.48 billion, a PE ratio of 24.05, a P/E/G ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.04. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.03 and a 1-year high of $61.46. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. On average, research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 109.29%.

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.