7,176 Shares in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Bought by Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,176 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $424,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WMB. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its position in Williams Companies by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on WMB. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $52.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, October 4th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WMB opened at $55.37 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $56.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The company has a market capitalization of $67.50 billion, a PE ratio of 23.36, a PEG ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.06. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.65 and a 1-year high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 value of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,858 shares in the company, valued at $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.