ZEGA Investments LLC Purchases Shares of 9,484 The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

ZEGA Investments LLC acquired a new position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 9,484 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $565,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WMB. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Williams Companies in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Sandy Spring Bank bought a new stake in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 86.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Micheal G. Dunn sold 96,687 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $37,907,316.72. This trade represents a 11.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 133,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,511,890.08. This trade represents a 16.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 139,583 shares of company stock valued at $7,563,278 over the last three months. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WMB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. CIBC increased their price objective 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. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Williams Companies from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.21.

Williams Companies Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE WMB opened at $59.60 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $72.67 billion, a PE ratio of 32.57, a PEG ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.03. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $37.18 and a 12 month high of $61.46. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $57.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The pipeline company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Williams Companies had a net margin of 21.17% and a return on equity of 15.85%. Equities research analysts forecast that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 2.08 earnings per share for the current 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 is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.29%.

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.