Prudent Man Advisors LLC Sells 2,148 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Prudent Man Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 12.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,553 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 2,148 shares during the quarter. Prudent Man Advisors LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $788,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $720,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Williams Companies by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 162,799 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $8,811,000 after buying an additional 19,782 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners raised its stake in Williams Companies by 319.9% in the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 12,038 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $651,000 after buying an additional 9,171 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Williams Companies by 81.4% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 185,920 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $10,062,000 after acquiring an additional 83,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Myriad Asset Management US LP purchased a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $995,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of WMB opened at $58.25 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $71.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.83, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.04. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.38 and a 12 month high of $61.46. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $56.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 109.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on WMB. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Mizuho raised their target price on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.46, for a total transaction of $1,467,960.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by 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.