SHEPHERD WEALTH MANAGEMENT Ltd LIABILITY Co Acquires Shares of 4,150 The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

SHEPHERD WEALTH MANAGEMENT Ltd LIABILITY Co bought a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 4,150 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

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

Williams Companies Stock Performance

WMB stock opened at $54.96 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $67.02 billion, a PE ratio of 30.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $56.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.33. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.51 and a 1-year high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) 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, 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 issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.64%. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

Insider Transactions at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 133,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 714,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 131,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,107,758 in the last 90 days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.07.

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.