Americana Partners LLC Has $23.90 Million Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Americana Partners LLC increased its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 340.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 441,663 shares of the pipeline company's stock after buying an additional 341,400 shares during the quarter. Williams Companies comprises 1.0% of Americana Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Americana Partners LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $23,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of WMB. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on WMB. Truist Financial increased their price target on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group increased their price target on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Scotiabank reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $51.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays increased their price target on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $53.29.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB stock traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $58.46. 6,417,482 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,606,994. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a twelve month low of $34.13 and a twelve month high of $61.46. The firm has a market cap of $71.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.10 and a beta of 1.04. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $56.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 103.83%.

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.