ALM First Financial Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

ALM First Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 4,040 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000. Williams Companies accounts for about 0.0% of ALM First Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 78.7% in the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 12,994 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $552,000 after acquiring an additional 5,721 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,016,985 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $43,222,000 after purchasing an additional 56,000 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% during the second quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 263,620 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $11,204,000 after buying an additional 1,468 shares during the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its position in Williams Companies by 7.7% during the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 9,789 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $416,000 after buying an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co raised its holdings in Williams Companies by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 25,120 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,068,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on WMB shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $51.00 price target on shares of Williams Companies in a report on Friday, January 10th. CIBC raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Williams Companies

In other Williams Companies 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. The trade was a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $59.49 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $56.00 and its 200-day moving average is $49.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.65 and a 52 week high of $60.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.52 billion, a PE ratio of 25.07, a PEG ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.06.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

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.