Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 7,176 The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 7,176 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $424,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $720,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 13.8% in the 4th 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 during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Williams Companies by 81.4% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 185,920 shares of the pipeline company's stock worth $10,062,000 after buying an additional 83,429 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $4,074,000 after buying an additional 10,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brendel Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 0.8% during the third quarter. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC now owns 51,927 shares of the pipeline company's stock valued at $2,370,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the period. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB stock traded up $1.44 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $56.77. The stock had a trading volume of 1,264,788 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,468,067. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.61. The stock has a market cap of $69.21 billion, a PE ratio of 23.95, a P/E/G ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.06. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.52%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Insider Activity at Williams Companies

In other news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total transaction of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams Companies from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $53.00.

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.