Point72 Hong Kong Ltd Purchases Shares of 33,422 The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 33,422 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,809,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WMB. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Sandy Spring Bank acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in Williams Companies during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. This represents a 16.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.94, for a total transaction of $455,520.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares in the company, valued at $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Up 1.0%

WMB stock opened at $58.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.88 and a 52-week high of $61.67. The company has a 50-day moving average of $58.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 0.66.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The pipeline company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.90 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on WMB. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, CIBC boosted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.50.

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.