The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Purchased by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB - Free Report) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 183,317 shares of the pipeline company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,618 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Williams Companies were worth $9,224,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds 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. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Sandy Spring Bank acquired a new position in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company's stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE WMB traded up $0.55 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $59.09. The company's stock had a trading volume of 713,027 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,009,307. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $72.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.87. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $57.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.61. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.27 and a 1 year high of $61.67.

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Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. On average, equities analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Williams Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.38%. Williams Companies's dividend payout ratio is 109.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In related news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,627,229.10. This represents a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total value of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on WMB. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target 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. One equities research 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 presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $56.07.

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.