XML Financial LLC Purchases 513 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

XML Financial LLC raised its position in shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 7.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,363 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after purchasing an additional 513 shares during the quarter. XML Financial LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $398,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Williams Companies by 47.8% during the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 35,960 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $1,528,000 after purchasing an additional 11,627 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 17.8% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 25,671 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $1,091,000 after buying an additional 3,876 shares during the last quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,342 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $270,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in shares of Williams Companies by 60.7% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 233,388 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,919,000 after buying an additional 88,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Europe London LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Williams Companies by 36.6% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP now owns 212,982 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $9,052,000 after acquiring an additional 57,106 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on WMB shares. Morgan Stanley raised Williams Companies from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group increased their price target on Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Williams Companies from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Williams Companies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Williams Companies Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $59.22 on Thursday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.65 and a 52-week high of $61.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.99, a PEG ratio of 5.44 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $56.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.57.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 15.89% and a net margin of 27.36%. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Williams Companies’s payout ratio is 80.17%.

Insider Activity

In other Williams Companies news, CAO Mary A. Hausman sold 7,951 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.30, for a total value of $447,641.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,455,805.40. This trade represents a 23.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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.