SHEPHERD WEALTH MANAGEMENT Ltd LIABILITY Co Takes $225,000 Position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

SHEPHERD WEALTH MANAGEMENT Ltd LIABILITY Co bought a new stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,150 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,568 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,184 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC now owns 5,073 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank boosted its position in shares of Williams Companies by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 30,813 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,669,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Wealth Partners Inc. increased its stake in Williams Companies by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Tower Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 4,591 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup lifted 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. Scotiabank increased their target price on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 transaction of $5,128,278.48. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 714,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total transaction of $511,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 22,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,284,492.50. The trade was a 28.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 131,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,107,758. Insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $54.96 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $56.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.33. The stock has a market capitalization 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 Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $36.51 and a 52 week high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Analysts predict 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis 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 (DPR) is 109.29%.

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.