The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) Stake Boosted by Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 51.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,622 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,961 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $629,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WMB. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WMB shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. CIBC raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays lifted their price target on Williams Companies from $46.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.07.

Williams Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $54.00 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The business’s 50 day moving average is $56.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.26. The company has a market cap of $65.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.51, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.88 and a 12 month high of $61.46.

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

Williams Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is currently 109.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Chad A. Teply sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,511,890.08. The trade was a 16.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the business’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 value of $5,128,278.48. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 714,693 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. This represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 131,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,107,758 in the last three months. 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.