GWN Securities Inc. Invests $288,000 in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

GWN Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 4,845 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $288,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WMB. Glenview Trust co boosted its stake in Williams Companies by 150.8% during the 4th quarter. Glenview Trust co now owns 11,288 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $611,000 after purchasing an additional 6,788 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 941,804 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $50,970,000 after buying an additional 97,340 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 22,438 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $1,214,000 after buying an additional 395 shares during the period. Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Hills Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $137,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup increased their price target on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $55.21.

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Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB traded down $0.16 on Friday, hitting $59.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,202,271 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,214,718. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $57.02 and a 200-day moving average of $53.83. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.18 and a 12-month high of $61.46. The company has a market capitalization of $72.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. As a group, research analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In related news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 over the last quarter. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.