Bleakley Financial Group LLC Sells 238 Shares of The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC cut its position in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 66,543 shares of the pipeline company’s stock after selling 238 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Williams Companies were worth $3,601,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Williams Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Williams Companies in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in Williams Companies during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its position in Williams Companies by 50.4% during the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 752 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Williams Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 86.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on WMB. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $51.00 target price on shares of Williams Companies in a research note on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of Williams Companies from $45.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Williams Companies from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Williams Companies Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WMB opened at $56.00 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $56.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.26 billion, a PE ratio of 23.63, a P/E/G ratio of 5.01 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.57 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.65 and a fifty-two week high of $61.46.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The pipeline company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.52 billion. Williams Companies had a net margin of 27.36% and a return on equity of 15.89%. Williams Companies’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Williams Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Williams Companies’s dividend payout ratio is 80.17%.

About Williams Companies

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.