HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Has $1.74 Million Stock Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC trimmed its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,508 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 1,726 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $1,740,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WMB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. CIBC lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.07.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE WMB opened at $59.77 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market cap of $72.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.66, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average of $57.31 and a 200-day moving average of $54.70. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.18 and a 1-year high of $61.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. On average, equities research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.04, for a total transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total value of $455,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. The trade was a 8.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.