FourThought Financial Partners LLC Acquires 220 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,628 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $2,361,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new stake in shares of Williams Companies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Mizuho increased their price target on Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.29.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.3 %

WMB opened at $57.28 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.41. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.54 and a 1-year high of $61.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.47. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.85% and a net margin of 21.17%. Analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is presently 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.