Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC Acquires 1,096 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 21.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,193 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 1,096 shares during the period. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $335,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Williams Companies by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 11,629 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $629,000 after buying an additional 1,392 shares during the last quarter. Csenge Advisory Group raised its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 56,097 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $3,036,000 after buying an additional 5,614 shares during the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Williams Companies by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,990 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $920,000 after purchasing an additional 864 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,085,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 76.2% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 39,593 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $2,344,000 after buying an additional 17,125 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of WMB opened at $57.00 on Monday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.03 and a 52 week high of $61.46. The firm has a market cap of $69.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.06 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. On average, analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 80.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WMB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Mizuho raised 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 Monday, November 4th. CIBC upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays lifted 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.29.

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.