Main Street Financial Solutions LLC Purchases New Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Main Street Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,635 shares of the pipeline company's stock, valued at approximately $521,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Sandy Spring Bank purchased a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 3.7 %

Williams Companies stock traded down $2.15 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $56.47. 5,402,862 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,623,856. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $57.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.91. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.69 and a 12 month high of $61.67. The company has a market cap of $68.86 billion, a PE ratio of 30.86, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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, analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies's payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares of the company's stock, valued at $37,907,316.72. The trade was a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total value of $1,467,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WMB shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. 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, February 14th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $57.77.

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.