The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Shares Bought by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 25.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,763,277 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after buying an additional 566,447 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $149,549,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WMB. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Sandy Spring Bank acquired a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on WMB. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. 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. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. CIBC upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Williams Companies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.21.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of WMB stock opened at $59.60 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $57.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.05. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.18 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46. The company has a market capitalization of $72.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.57, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.50.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) 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 expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Larry C. Larsen sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 81,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,627,229.10. This trade represents a 8.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 8,896 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.50, for a total value of $511,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 22,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,284,492.50. This represents a 28.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 139,583 shares of company stock worth $7,563,278. Company insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

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.